Bodies of trainee pilot, instructor found in dam as search continues for missing aircraft in Jharkhand

Jamshedpur, August 22

The bodies of the trainee pilot and his instructor who were on board the two-seater aircraft that went missing after taking off from Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur were found in the Chandil dam on Thursday, officials said.

The trainer aircraft, a Cessna 152, went missing after taking off from the Sonari aerodrome on Tuesday morning, following which a mega search operation was launched in the nearby areas, including the reservoir of the dam, they said.

While the body of trainee pilot Shubhrodeep Dutta, a resident of Adityapur, was found in the morning, that of pilot-in-command Captain Jeet Satru Anand who hailed from Patna was found later in the day, they added.

A 19-member team of the Indian Navy, which was brought in from Visakhapatnam, was continuing the search for the missing aircraft, though it was affected by inclement weather, officials said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started an investigation along with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Directorate of Flying Training (DFT) and Directorate of Airworthiness (DAW) into the incident, they said.

Alchemist Aviation, which owned and operated the aircraft registered as VT-TAJ, in a statement said it was too early to comment about the reasons for the crash.

“The aircraft had 80 litres of fuel in it with an endurance of 4 hours 30 minutes, and the flying time was scheduled to be 1 hour,” it said, adding that the plane lost contact with the Jamshedpur Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) around 11.10 am on Tuesday.

The aircraft was in an airworthy condition with an airworthiness certificate issued by DGCA and was fitted with an engine manufactured by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), it said.

“The make and model of the engine manufacturer is Lycoming Engines, Oliver St, Williamsport, PA 17701, USA. The aircraft has a life span of 30,000 hours out of which it has completed only 16,000 hours. It is pertinent to mention here that we directly purchase engines only from Lycoming Engines, USA. We do not use locally overhauled engines,” it said.

A search was launched in the dam after a pair of shoes was found floating that was subsequently recovered and identified, it added.

“This led us to the fear that the point of incidence would be in the dam itself. The initial search was conducted by Tata Steel’s helicopter and with our own aircraft with all our efforts. Subsequently, the weather deteriorated and the operation was resumed by land vehicles and the local police were informed. The local government authorities were then informed and a massive search and rescue operation was launched with the help of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF),” the company said.

The Indian Navy was then called for help and it deployed a Sonic Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) device, which would assist in identifying the exact position of the incident, it said.

“In this hour of distress, we stand with the family of our dear pilots who were involved in this incident. We mourn the loss of the pilots, which has been the biggest loss for us yet. May god give strength to their bereaved families. It has been an irreparable loss for us in all the years of existence,” the company said.

Inclement weather hampered the search operations in the afternoon, officials said, adding that it would resume once conditions improve.