On 3 June 2019, an

Antonov An-32 The Antonov An-32 ( NATO reporting name: Cline) is a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft. Design and development The An-32 is essentially a re-engined An-26. It is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions better than the ...

twin engine

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

transport aircraft of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

en route from

Jorhat Airport Jorhat Airport , also known as Rowriah Airport is a domestic airport serving Jorhat, Assam, India. It is located at Rowriah, which is situated 7 kilometres south-west from the city centre. History It was established in early 1950s and commo ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Mechuka Mechukha or Menchukha (In Memba dialect, 'Men' means Medicine, 'Chu' means Water -streams, rivers, etc. & 'Kha' means Snow; Meaning "the land blessed with medicinal snow-fed water- river & streams") is a town, assembly constituency and subdivis ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It share ...

lost contact with ground control about 33 minutes after takeoff. There were 13 people on board. After a week-long search operation, the wreckage with no survivors was found near Pari hills close to Gatte village in

at the elevation of .

Passengers

There were 13 Indian Air Force personnel, eight crew members and five passengers on board the aircraft. None of them survived the crash.

Search operation

The

twin engine

transport aircraft was en route from

Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground is an Indian Air Force airstrip located at Mechuka in Shi Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. It is an Advance Landing Ground (ALG) of Indian Air Force. History In June 2019, An Indian Air Force Plane ...

on 3 June 2019. The aircraft took off from Johrat at 12:27 pm IST and lost contact with ground control at 1 pm IST, about 33 minutes after takeoff. After eight days of search operation that had been hindered by poor weather, on 11 June 2019, the wreckage of the aircraft was found near Pari hills close to Gatte village, north of Lipo in

, at elevation. The Indian Air Force had previously offered a cash reward of for anyone who could share information on the aircraft. A fleet of Sukhoi-30,

C-130J The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130J is the newest v ...

and An-32 aircraft and

Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian service. ...

and ALH helicopters as well as the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

, the

Indo-Tibetan Border Police The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a border patrol organization of India deployed along its borders with Tibet Autonomous Region. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the Sino-Indi ...

and the state police forces were deployed for the search operation. The Indian Navy's

P-8i The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol aircraft, maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and derived from the civilian Boeing 737-800. It was developed for the Unit ...

aircraft was also deployed.

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman of ...

Cartosat The Cartosat is a series of Indian optical earth observation satellites built and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Cartosat series is a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Program. They are used for Earth's resource ...

and

RISAT RISAT (Radar Imaging Satellite) is a series of Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellites built by ISRO. They provide all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars (SAR). The ''RISAT'' series are the first all-weather Earth ob ...

satellites were also used. On 12 June 2019, a team of 15 rescuers were airdropped near the crash site, but were unable to reach the location due to rough terrain and bad weather. The next day the rescue team reached the site and reported that there were no survivors, and that they had recovered the aircraft's

flight recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Air Force An-32 crash, 2019 2019 disasters in India History of Arunachal Pradesh Accidents and incidents involving the Antonov An-32 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2019 Aviation accidents and incidents in India Indian Air Force An-32 Shi Yomi district 2010s in Arunachal Pradesh

Passengers

Search operation

See also

References

External links