A 26-year-old charter aircraft, registered as VT-UYZ, on its way to a landing at Juhu aerodrome during a test flight, crashed into open space near a construction site in the crowded Mumbai r on Thursday afternoon, killing all four crew members and a laborer on the ground.
Both pilots, Capt Pradeep Rajput and Capt Maria Zuberi, along with aircraft maintenance engineer Surabhi Gupta and junior technician Manish Pandey died on the spot. A construction laborer, Govind Dubey, was killed in the fire that broke out when the jet fuel tank exploded.
The aircraft was on a test flight after being on the ground for about 9 years. The pilots did not give any distress calls before the tragic incident. The aircraft had also met a serious crash in 2009 at Allahabad and had been on ground since that time. “It was owned by the UP government and the cabinet decided to dispose it of than spend heavily to repair it,” said a former UP government official. The aircraft was finally sold in 2014—after three unsuccessful auctions— to a Pune-based company, which then sold it to Mumbai-based U Y Aviation Pvt Ltd, its current owner.
“Though we have ownership of the aircraft, it was under the care of Indamer company. The aircraft was not yet handed over to us, it did not have a certificate of airworthiness,’’ said Chauhan. The safety wing of DGCA is still undergoing necessary investigations to know the exact cause of the crash.
Both pilots, Capt Pradeep Rajput and Capt Maria Zuberi, along with aircraft maintenance engineer Surabhi Gupta and junior technician Manish Pandey died on the spot. A construction laborer, Govind Dubey, was killed in the fire that broke out when the jet fuel tank exploded.
The aircraft was on a test flight after being on the ground for about 9 years. The pilots did not give any distress calls before the tragic incident. The aircraft had also met a serious crash in 2009 at Allahabad and had been on ground since that time. “It was owned by the UP government and the cabinet decided to dispose it of than spend heavily to repair it,” said a former UP government official. The aircraft was finally sold in 2014—after three unsuccessful auctions— to a Pune-based company, which then sold it to Mumbai-based U Y Aviation Pvt Ltd, its current owner.
“Though we have ownership of the aircraft, it was under the care of Indamer company. The aircraft was not yet handed over to us, it did not have a certificate of airworthiness,’’ said Chauhan. The safety wing of DGCA is still undergoing necessary investigations to know the exact cause of the crash.
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