The Hindu : National : Violations of basic norms behind air crash?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

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National

Violations of basic norms behind air crash?

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI, APRIL 23. A team of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) probing the Bangalore Cessna air crash in which actress Soundarya died, has found a "combination of operational factors and violations of the basic norms of the regulatory body" that could have led to the accident.

The pilot, John Philip, the actress, her brother and a campaign manager, died instantaneously, as the aircraft crashed and burst into flames.

The probe team is led by the Inspector of Accident and the Deputy Director-General, Air Safety, Subash Chander.

Detailing the sequence of events culminating in the crash of the four-seater Cessna-180 aircraft belonging to Agni Aero Sports Aviation Academy, sources close to the investigation told The Hindu today that the aircraft, bearing the call sign VT-EQU, took off from runway-27 at the Jakkur airport at 11-15 a.m. on April 17 and was airborne only for a minute.

It then "abruptly turned left and crashed" on the open grounds of the University of Agriculture Sciences, situated about 2 km away.

The sources said actress Soundarya was seated in the co-pilot's seat. The team has so far not able to obtain documentary evidence on whether the "co-pilot's controls were deactivated." The investigation showed that 28-year-old John Philip (with about 100 hours experience flying the same type of aircraft) was the commander as per the flight plan from Jakkur to Nadirgul in Andhra Pradesh.

Going by the statements recorded by the Air Traffic Controller, a retired Airports Authority of India official and now working on contract at the Jakkur airfield, and some eyewitness accounts, the aircraft did not catch fire while in midair, the sources noted.

However, the probe team was examining whether there was an "engine failure."

What has perplexed the investigation team is the lack of proper "operational documents, maintenance or engineering records" in the private operator's records.

The team is also puzzled that there was no "passenger load trim sheet" pertaining to this particular sortie, as two of the passengers had been reportedly accommodated behind the pilot.

This was a bench-type seating arrangement with strap-on safety belts for the occupants.

The team was airlifting the "mangled and damaged engine" of the aircraft to Mumbai for examining the impact of the accident, the sources said.

It was also able to retrieve burnt pieces of the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).

This is expected to shed some "vital clues as the aircraft does not have a Cockpit Voice Recorder or the Flight Data Recorder (FDR)."

The entire flying operations of the private operator has been suspended by the DGCA until further notice.

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