Mumbai plane crash: Govt structures, aviation companies both failed us, says pilot Marya Zuberi's family

A 12-seater aircraft crashed in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar on Thursday, killing both the pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board, besides a pedestrian. The family of Marya Zuberi, one of the pilots who died, issued a statement to the media on Friday. Following is the full text — On the morning of the 28th of June 2018, Marya wore the same smile that she did every morning. She left the house assuring me that she would return rather soon as the weather conditions were clearly not right for a test flight of a small plane such as the Beachcraft King Air C90(VT-UPZ) twin turboprop. She was sure that the commission to undertake such a flight would not be given. Considering Captain Rajput held and shared the same view with Marya, I was confident they would not fly this day. The weather conditions were just not right. We know that the aircraft was well beyond its prime. We know it was more than 20 years old. We know it had already had an accident in 2009 and that the UP government chose to sell it rather than spend on its repairs. Considering all the above stated facts we, the family of Marya Zuberi, want answers. We want to know who exactly was at fault and who will bear the responsibility? [caption id=“attachment_4633011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rescue operations in progress after the plane crash in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar. PTI[/caption] Indemar the company involved in the ill fated plane’s repairs seems to have been incapable of detecting the technical snags that could have led to its crash. We want to know whether their technical teams are capable of detecting technical snags or not and whether profit motives superseded the need for diligence before letting such a plane off the ground. UY aviation the owners of the plane seem to have completely disregarded their responsibility to check whether such a plane should go off the ground. We want to know if they in anyway pushed Indemar to test fly a plane that was clearly not ready. DGCA norms do not permit test flights of small planes in rainy weather. Who then let such a flight take place? Is the agency culpable? Did officers within the agency allow the flight, that clearly flouted its own norms? We want to know who took the call, who signed the papers for the flight to take place from the DGCA’s side? Which or how many of these agencies are at fault? Were profit motives the reason why we have lost our loved ones? Who pushed them to fly? We are in shock and so must be the family members of all those who lost their lives on this ill fated flight. We had expected a call, a word, a message, anything at all from those who run these various companies and agencies. But so far the government structures and the companies have both failed us as well as the families of the victims of this ghastly tragedy. Today on the 29th of June 2018 at the time of releasing this statement we are still to receive word from any of the above mentioned agencies. What may have prompted them to treat us in such an uncivilised way is beyond our understanding. The entire text has been taken exactly as posted in a press release and has not been edited by Firstpost for style or content.