Balaghat aircraft crash: Probe team from Mumbai takes feedback on reading box, cockpit

Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh): A three-member team from Mumbai, inquiring into a trainer aircraft crash at Bhokkutola forest in Balaghat on Saturday, has collected information about the reading box, cockpit and signal, official sources said on Tuesday.

The parts of the mangled aircraft were found in a 100-foot-deep ditch in the forest. The team arrived at Balaghat on Monday.

The team members are also collecting evidence on the crash in which a pilot Mohit Thakur and a female trainee pilot Brushanka Maheshwari lost their lives.

Thakur was a resident of Himachal Pradesh, and Maheshwari was from Kutch in Gujarat.

According to official sources, the inquiry report may  be submitted to the higher authorities in four days.

In-charge of Birsi airport Shafiq Shah said the team took feedback on the direction of the flight, its speed and whether it hit a tree or a hillock before the crash.

According to Shah, if the reading box of the ill-fated aircraft is safe, its speed before the crash will be known.

Meanwhile, the police handed over the black box of the aircraft to the inquiry team.

The black box will help the inquiry team to know the conversation between the pilot and trainee pilot, which will bring to light the reason for the crash, Shah said.