Staff Reporter
Hyderabad, Jun 15: The Indian Air Force will ascertain the cause of the recent crash of AN-32 aircraft in Arunachal Pradesh and ensure such accidents do not recur, IAF chief B S Dhanoa said Saturday.
His comments come after the wreckage of the IAF aircraft was found in mountains of Shi Yomi and Siang districts, nine days after it went missing with 13 personnel on board.
“We have recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder…We will go into the detail (to ascertain) as to what happened and how do we make sure that it does not happen again,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Combined Graduation Parade at Air Force Academy in Dundigal near here.
“In Arunachal Pradesh, the terrain is very treacherous and most of the time, it is cloudy…When you are flying in that terrain, in that cloudy weather, there have been many, not only Air Force, even otherwise, Pawan Hans and all, accidents, because of controlled flight into terrain,” he claimed.
The Russian-origin aircraft went missing in the afternoon of June 3, around 33 minutes after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts to retrieve the mortal remains of those who lost their lives in the line of duty, have been hampered due to inclement weather in the area.
“Cheetah and ALH helicopters are on standby to commence operations once the weather improves. There are low clouds associated with rain in the area,” the IAF had tweeted on Saturday.
The IAF informed that it is in “constant contact with the families of the air warriors and are being updated regularly about the ongoing rescue operations. They are also being explained the challenges about the weather.”
The 13 personnel who lost their lives were Wing Commander GM Charles, Squadron Leader H Vinod, flight lieutenants R Thapa, A Tanwar, S Mohanty and MK Garg, Warrant Officer KK Mishra, Sergeant Anoop Kumar, Corporal Sherin, Leading Air Craftsmen SK Singh and Pankaj, and non-combatants (E) Putali and Rajesh Kumar.