What happened
On May 25, 2011, an Air Charter Services Pvt Ltd medical evacuation flight, operating registration VT-ACF, was traveling from Patna to Delhi. The flight was transporting a critically ill patient along with an attendant, two doctors, and a nurse, accompanied by two crew members. After an uneventful departure from Patna at approximately 20:33 IST, the aircraft maintained a cruising altitude of FL260.
During the descent toward Delhi, the crew requested a heading deviation to avoid inclement weather, which was granted by air traffic control. While operating at FL160 and communicating with Terminal Approach Radar, the crew was notified of weather conditions ahead. Following this, the aircraft was instructed to turn to a heading of 285°. As the aircraft began the turn, it climbed from FL125 to FL146.
At approximately 22:40 IST, the aircraft's communication became difficult. The crew transmitted a weak message stating they were flying "into bad weather." Radar observations showed the aircraft performing a very tight right-hand turn, losing altitude rapidly from FL146 down to FL016, and experiencing a significant decrease in ground speed. After a final weak transmission regarding the weather, the radar signal became static at 22:42:32 IST, located 15.2 nm from the DPN VOR on a 145-degree radial.
Shortly after the signal was lost, the Delhi tower received reports from the local fire brigade confirming that the aircraft type had crashed in the Parvatia Colony, a densely populated residential area near Faridabad. The crash resulted in 5 fatalities (the total number of passengers and crew on board). Local emergency responders and residents attempted to manage the resulting fire and recover victims from the wreckage.
Findings
- The aircraft encountered severe meteorological conditions while attempting to navigate around weather cells.
- The flight crew reported entering bad weather immediately before the loss of altitude and control.