The seven-seater King Air C-90 aircraft of the Punjab government,which crashed on this day last year,met with the accident due to its pilots error,says the inquiry report submitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to the state government. The report,a copy of which is with The Indian Express,says though the aircraft was airworthy when it had taken off,the organisation (Punjab government) did not maintain a defect register. This raises doubt whether the aircraft had defects that were not revealed, it says. In another finding,the DGCA says the King Air C-90 plane was endorsed on the Indian licence of co-pilot Manjit Singh Khokhar on the basis of a wrong declaration furnished by M/s Ran Air about his flying experience. It was stated that Khokhar had 100 hours of flying experience on King Air C-90,but he had actually never flown this type of aircraft. Though his performance during the skill checks was found to be satisfactory,he had mostly flown 1900 D aircraft with an entirely different cockpit. The other pilot,Dalip Kataria,is under scanner too,as the report says the renewal of his Indian Airline Transport Pilot Licence was not done by the DGCA-nominated examiner. Also,the report adds,the Punjab government had submitted that Kataria underwent a familiarisation flight with Capt Nanda,the executive pilot of Haryana government,but Nanda denied this. Kataria had only eight hours of experience on this kind of aircraft,according to the DGCA,which also points out that the records regarding updating the global positioning system (GPS) data were not available,though the crew (pilots) were estimating their position based on the GPS. The report further states that both pilots never prepared load and trim sheet (to check the plane and passenger load) while flying the plane,which is in violation of the rules. Weather was also a factor,the report adds,as the visibility was poor and not suitable for Visual Flight Rules operation while the visibility should be 5 kilometre,it was only 1.5 km when the plane took off. The DGCA says the pilots also did not adhere to standard procedures for approach and landing go around and descend subsequently. Besides,the obstruction chart was not revised to include all obstructions in the area. On sighting communication towers (of Reliance and BSNL),panic gripped the pilots and in their anxiety they lost control on the aircraft and it crashed,says the report. Forensic examination of the plane has ruled out sabotage. Both engines were totally functional and there was no mechanical or engine failure. The report,however,could not establish as to why smoke came out of the cockpit after the crash. According to eyewitnesses,the plane did not catch fire in the air. We have received the report and it is under examination. As far as licences to the pilots are concerned,they were issued by the DGCA and were valid. The DGCA licence and endorsement is final qualification of the pilot, says Secretary,Civil Aviation,Vishwajeet Khanna.
