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Video: Private Jet Skids, Crashes At Mumbai Airport Amid Rain, 8 Injured

The plane was a Learjet 45 – a nine-seater super-light business jet produced by a division of Canada-based Bombardier Aviation.

Mumbai: A private plane skid off the runway and crashed while trying to land amid heavy rain at Mumbai airport on Thursday evening. All eight on board – five passengers and three crew (a pilot, a co-pilot and a flight attendant) – have been hospitalised, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation told news agency ANI. The extent of injuries is unknown but no casualties have been reported so far.
The runway has been cleared of debris and normal operations have resumed – post safety checks and clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The runway was closed briefly and five Vistara Airlines flights were diverted.

The diverted flights are UK622 (from Varanasi) and UK124 (from Bangkok) and UK933 (from Delhi), UK518 (from Kochi), and UK865 (from Dehradun). The first two have been diverted to Hyderabad and the three latter flights have been sent to Goa.

The incident took place near Mumbai airport’s Runway 27, which was slippery because of the rain. Visibility was reportedly around 700 metres at the time.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/private-aircraft-with-8-on-board-veers-off-runway-after-landing-at-mumbai-airport-amid-heavy-rain-4389760

A US Marine Osprey crashes during drills in Australia, killing 3 and injuring 20, some critically

A United States Marine Corps aircraft with 23 Marines aboard crashed on a north Australian island Sunday, killing at least three and critically injuring at least five during a multinational training exercise, officials said.

Three had been confirmed dead on Melville Island and five were flown in serious condition 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the mainland city of Darwin for hospital treatment after the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft crashed around 9:30 a.m., a statement from the Marines said.

“Recovery efforts are ongoing,” the statement said, adding the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Aircraft had been sent from Darwin to retrieve more survivors from the remote location but no further details on the fate of the other 15 Marines on board had been released hours later.

A U.S. military official reported to Australian air traffic controllers a “significant fire in the vicinity of the crash site,” according to an audio recording of the conversation broadcast by Nine News television.

Melville resident Shane Murphy was fishing from a beach when the Osprey crashed and told Australian Broadcasting Corp. he saw a “big mushroom of black smoke” rise from the wreckage.

Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said no one on board had escaped injury.

One of the injured was undergoing surgery at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said around six hours after the crash.

“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said only Americans were injured in the crash during Exercise Predators Run, which involves the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the three U.S. service personnel who lost their lives, those who have been injured, the rest of the crew and indeed the entire United States armed forces,” Albanese said in a statement.

“Australia will continue to provide assistance to our friends for as long as is required,” he added.

Around 150 U.S. Marines are currently based in Darwin and up to 2,500 rotate through the city every year. They’re part of a realignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific that’s broadly meant to face an increasingly assertive China.

The 12-day exercise is scheduled to end Sept. 7. It involves troops on land, in the sea and in the air. The exercise has been paused since the crash.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. Versions of the aircraft are flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

Before Sunday, there had been five fatal crashes of Marine Ospreys since 2012, causing a total of 16 deaths.

The latest was in June 2022, when five Marines died in a fiery crash in a remote part of California east of San Diego. A crash investigation report last month found that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure related to a clutch.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/us-military-aircraft-crash-australia-e85fcd46cd3c85933d724a8cf4f253b3

‘Absolute lie’: Russia denies role in Yevgeny Prigozhin plane crash

Allegations that Moscow was behind aircraft explosion presumed to have killed Wagner Group boss are untrue, Kremlin spokesman says.

Western suggestions that the Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed on the Russian government’s orders are an “absolute lie”, the Kremlin says.

It declined on Friday to definitively confirm Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash, citing the need to wait for test results.

Russian investigators have recovered 10 bodies and flight recorders from the scene of Wednesday’s crash northwest of Moscow, and investigations are under way.

Prigozhin, who conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia two months ago, hired fighters who are feared in Africa and Syria and played a crucial role in the war in Ukraine.

Some unidentified officials from the West quoted in the media have suggested the plane explosion appears to be vengeance for the Wagner mutiny in June, which posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov flatly rejected the allegations.

“Right now, of course, there are lots of speculation around this plane crash and the tragic deaths of the passengers of the plane, including Yevgeny Prigozhin,” Peskov told reporters in a conference call. “Of course in the West, those speculations are put out under a certain angle, and all of it is a complete lie.”

Prigozhin was listed among those on board the plane.

When asked whether the Kremlin has received an official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death, Peskov referenced Putin’s remarks from a day earlier. “He said that right now all the necessary forensic analyses, including genetic testing, will be carried out. Once some kind of official conclusions are ready to be released, they will be released.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin who mediated the deal that ended the mutiny, said he “can’t imagine” the Russian leader ordered Prigozhin’s assassination.

“I know Putin. He is calculating, very calm, even slow,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by state media. “I cannot imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It’s too rough and unprofessional work.”

‘I’m not surprised’
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the presumed death of Prigozhin could destabilise his Wagner Group of private military contractors.

His “exceptional audacity” and “extreme brutality” permeated the organisation “and are unlikely to be matched by any successor”, it said in a statement.

The private jet crashed soon after taking off from Moscow for St Petersburg, carrying Prigozhin, six other Wagner members and a crew of three, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency.

US President Joe Biden, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said he believed Putin was likely behind the crash. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised. There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov took offence at that remark. “It is not for the US president, in my opinion, to talk about certain tragic events of this nature,” he said on Friday.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/25/absolute-lie-kremlin-denies-role-in-yevgeny-prigozhin-plane-crash

Mishap averted at Delhi airport as Vistara planes get clearance for take off, landing at same time; DGCA orders probe

Major mishap averted at Delhi airport as Vistara planes get clearance for take off, landing at same time

A major mishap was averted at the Delhi airport on Wednesday morning after two Vistara planes were given permission for landing and take-off at the same time.. The take-off was aborted after instructions from Air Traffic Controller (ATC).
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered a probe into the incident.

Flight UK725 from Delhi to Bagdogra was taking off from the newly inaugurated runway and the Vistara flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi, after landing on a parallel runway, was moving towards the end of the runway. “Both were given permission at the same time but ATC took control immediately. The ATC (Air Traffic Control) officer on duty asked Vistara flight to abort take-off,” an official, who was aware of the developments, told ANI. An alert pilot alerted ATC and take-off of the second aircraft was aborted, sources told India Today.

DGCA has derostered air traffic controller for the runway incursion incident at Delhi airport, an official told India Today.

Delhi-Bagdogra flight returned to the parking bay from the active runway immediately after take-off was aborted. Officials said it was refuelled to ensure that the plane had enough fuel to return to Delhi if the pilot encountered bad weather conditions at Bagdogra. The braking system was also checked, they said. According to airport officials, if the flight taking off was not stopped at the right time, a major accident could have happened.

According to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), no aircraft or vehicle movement is allowed during the process of take-off and landing. Sources said passengers became a little apprehensive when the pilot of the flight bound for Bagdogra announced that the plane will not take off due to instructions from ATC.

Senior pilot and founder of Safety Matters Foundation, Capt Amit Singh said that flight operations “from closely spaced runways require enhanced monitoring and stricter compliance with SOPs to avoid a potential traffic collision due to the proximity of the flight path”. “Normally a take-off clearance is not issued to an aircraft on one runway unless the aircraft on the second runway has landed,” he said.

Source: https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/in-focus/story/major-mishap-averted-at-delhi-airport-as-vistara-planes-get-clearance-for-take-off-landing-at-same-time-395258-2023-08-23