Air Force plane crashes in central India, killing 5

USPA News - A large transport plane belonging to the Air Force crashed in central India on Friday, killing all five people on board, officials said. The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft crashed about 72 miles (115 kilometers) west of Gwalior airbase in Madhya Pradesh state in central India.

The helicopter had taken off from Agra at 10 a.m. local time for a routine flying training mission. All five air force personnel on board were killed in the crash. "It is very unfortunate that we lost five of our warriors in a tragic accident," Air Force Chief of Staff Arup Raha said in a statement following the incident. "It is a sad moment for all of us and we share the grief with the family members." Raha said in the statement that the best pilots had been chosen to fly the aircraft. "In the last three years we have exploited capabilities of this aircraft during Uttarakhand floods landing at Daulat Beg Oldie, which is the highest landing ground in the world," he said. The Ministry of Defense confirmed that a Court of Inquiry had been ordered to investigate the cause of Friday`s crash. According to NDTV, the black box and the flight data recorder were recovered to determine what went wrong. "The IAF remains committed to provide the best possible equipment and training to our personnel so that they can execute their assigned missions professionally," Raha said. The C-130J was inducted in the Indian Air Force in 2010 and India recently deployed one these aircraft to assist in the search and rescue operation for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370. This is the third crash of a C-130J aircraft in the past 15 years.