Air Ambulance Crash: From Forced Landings to Past Controversies | Inside Redbird’s Track Record

New Delhi: After a Redbird operated charter plane, operating as an air ambulance, crashed in Jharkhand's Chatra on Monday, concerns have raised about the Redbird Flight Training Academy's operational practices, which has been under the scanner of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for quite some time.

Earlier this month, a Cessna 172 (VT-EUC) belonging to the Redbird Aviation crash-landed in an open field at Vijayapura due to suspected fuel starvation. The pilot and a trainee pilot sustained grievous injuries. There were two persons on board, the flight instructor and a trainee pilot.  Both the occupants of the aircraft were safe. 

In 2025, TECNAM P-Mentor aircraft VT-RFO operated by the same airline, crash landed near Suktara Airfield in Madhya Pradesh. In the accident, the Pilot-In-Command (PIC) suffered a minor injury while the Trainee Pilot sustained a serious injujry.

Back in 2023, a Tecnam P2008 JC crash-landed in Baramati in the month of October. In just a few days after this incident, a Tecnam P2008JC (VT-RBT) aircraft experienced an engine failure and crash-landed near Gojubavi village in Baramati. The DGCA had temporarily suspended Redbird's operations at all its bases after the two successive crashlanding in October 2023. Similar such incidents were also reported in 2021 and 2022.

After the Baramati crashes, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) came out with its preliminary reports and had flagged that the academy was obstructing the proceedings of the investigation team.

"In view of the fact that crucial evidence like SD Card from wreckage and CCTV Hard Disks were removed before arrival of AAIB team without any intimation or permission, it is recommended that necessary action may be taken by DGCA against M/s Redbird Flight Training Academy Pvt Ltd for obstructing the proceedings of the Investigation Team as per the extant provisions," the preliminary report had said, as cited by PTI.

The preliminary report on the October 22, 2023, accident mentioned that crucial evidence like SD Card was removed before arrival of the AAIB's team without seeking its permission.

Following these developments, the AAIB had asked the DGCA to take action against the academy for obstructing its proceedings.

In a related incident, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash along with four others on January 28, after their Learjet 45 crashed some distance away from the Baramati airport. The civil aviation ministry has maintained that a preliminary report will be made public before February 28.

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