Mumbai plane crash: Residents say plane hit cables, probe team says still collecting evidence

Mumbai plane crash: The family of co-pilot Marya Zuberi gathered at the Shia kabristan at Govandi, on Friday afternoon. Express photo by Prashant Nadkar.

OFFICIALS OF the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is investigating Thursday’s crash of a Beechcraft King C90 plane at Ghatkopar in Mumbai in which five persons died, inspected the debris at the crash site on Friday. They took away four stretches of cable wire from two surrounding buildings that had been snapped by the crashing aircraft.

Local residents said the 12-seater chartered plane, which was on its first test flight after three years in maintenance, hit the cable wires and then crashed into a pillar of Prithvii, an under construction building. The pilot, co-pilot, two maintenance personnel and a pedestrian were killed when the plane, purchased by Mumbai-based UY Aviation Limited, crashed.

Local residents Friday guided a two-member AAIB team to the two buildings. “We have collected two sets of cable wires each from Shankar Sagar and Rani Lane buildings, located right opposite to the crash site. These wires were in the path of the aircraft, as it crashed, and were connected across the two buildings. While we cannot say exactly what happened, this will be part of our evidence,” a senior AAIB official said.

The Shias from the neighbourhood gathered round to pray for the departed soul. Express photo by Prashant Nadkar.

Ravi Punj, a resident, said: “From the way the cable wires hung since yesterday, we guess the plane cut through the cables and fell on the steel reinforcements of the pillars of the two buildings. Considering it crashed with such force, we were lucky nothing else came in the way.”

While the rescue team retrieved the black box and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) from the flight Thursday, remaining portions from the wreckage were collected Friday.

The family of co-pilot Marya Zuberi at the burial ground. Express photo by Prashant Nadkar.

Maintaining that it cannot yet be said what led to the crash, AAIB Assistant Director Jasbeer Singh said: “We will collect evidence…from the crash site. Most of the evidence required from the flight were collected by the DGCA on Thursday. We need to make a few more trips to the site before concluding the search.”

The 22-year-old plane was being maintained by the Indamer Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) for the last two years at the Juhu airport in Mumbai. Singh said that though records of the maintenance will be investigated, the plane was not old enough to not be airworthy.

UY Aviation officials said the plane was supposed to carry out its first test flight on Monday, but it was rescheduled for Thursday after a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued by Juhu airport. “Due to heavy rains on Monday, a NOTAM was issued against conducting flight operations out of Juhu airport. This is why we could not conduct the test flight on Monday. After the Air Traffic Control (ATC) allowed flight movement on Thursday, we undertook the test flight,” said Anil Chauhan, head of operations at UY Aviation.

Sources said that from the auto-pilot mode, pilot P S Rajput switched to controlling the flight manually four miles away from Juhu airport. “Considering that they lost touch with the ATC team, a power outage could have caused the crash. When the power goes out, it is not possible for the pilot to take charge of the flight,” a senior official from Juhu airport said.

Mumbai plane crash: Chartered plane crash in Mumbai: At least five persons died in the crash. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)

Officials said the pilot may have misjudged the position of the runway at Juhu airport due to low visibility. “He was guided by the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. A power outage in the flight could have made the plane lose touch with the ATC.” Both engines of the aircraft were completely charred after the plane caught fire upon crashing.

Express photo by Prashant Nadkar.

While aviation experts claimed that maintenance engineers are usually not required to accompany pilots on a test flight, Captain Shri Krishna Vinod, chief of flight safety at UY Aviation, said: “The technicians accompanied the pilots, as it was required in the profile of the flight. They were supposed to keep an account of the flight details and record disruptions, if any. It was a valid choice of the team to have them included.”

The AAIB team spoke to witnesses and collected CCTV footage from nearby buildings.