Deceased engineer told father she was going to fly in a ‘sick aircraft’
Hours before the 12-seater aircraft crashed in a crowded Mumbai suburb on Thursday, maintenance engineer Surabhi Gupta - one of the five killed in the incident- told her father in Sonepat that she was going to fly in a “sick aircraft”.
Surabhi had spoken to her father over phone in the morning on Thursday and described the condition of the aircraft as bad.
“It was yesterday (Thursday) morning that we spoke over phone. We had a routine conversation before she told me that the aircraft she was going to fly in later in the day was sick. She said the aircraft was in a bad condition..,” Surabhi’s father SP Gupta told reporters at his residence in Sonepat on Friday.
The grieving father wondered who gave the permission to fly a “sick aircraft”. “How was permission given to fly a sick aircraft and who gave this permission,” he asked.
Gupta said that he was confident that a high-level probe would be conducted by authorities concerned into the incident and people responsible will be held accountable. He said Surabhi got married only last year and her husband too was a pilot. He recalled that Surabhi was often referred to as astronaut Kalpana Chawla by local residents in their home town in Uttar Pradesh.
“Recently, she was honoured
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by the Maharashtra government. She was a brave young woman, who was fond of heights,” he said.
The 12-seater aircraft crashed in Ghatkopar in Mumbai on Thursday, killing both pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board, besides a pedestrian.
DID BUILDINGS VIOLATE HEIGHT NORMS?
The telephone exchange lane where the chartered plane crash took place on Thursday has around 15 buildings, a management institute, while an oil mill and slum are in the vicinity.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had last year issued notices to housing societies near the crash site, alleging they had crossed the prescribed height limit for buildings in the path of the flights. “Four wings of the building where the crash occurred were under construction. The work was delayed because we weren’t getting clearances from the airport authorities.,” said Jignesh Patel, site official of the building.
The building, which has been under construction for over five years, was being built on land which was earlier called as Panjrapole, and had stables.
Naina Gala, who has been living in a building in the vicinity for the last 10 years, said the work resumed two years ago. “We were told it was not getting clearance because of height limit,” said Gala.
The toll could have been higher if the aircraft had crashed in the neighbouring residential area.
least 40 labourers had a narrow escape as they went for their lunch break minutes before a chartered plane crashed into an under-construction building in the bustling Ghatkopar area yesterday.
Five people -- four crew members and a pedestrian -- lost their lives when the King Air C90 plane crashed into the crowded suburb at 1.11 pm.
The labourers of the underconstruction building where the plane crashed, had gone away for lunch, which averted more casualties. Three construction workers received minor injuries in the incident and were admitted to a civic hospital.
Labourer Naresh Nishad, who sustained injuries on his face said, “We had a lucky escape as we were not present at the site as it was our lunch time. Otherwise, we would have met the same fate.”
“I don’t know where the plane came from. I saw some burning pieces coming towards me and heard explosions,” said Nishad.
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