Why in News:

• Indian Air Force’s AN-32 transport aircraft goes missing after taking off from Jorhat in Assam. The airborne aircraft had total 13 people on board in Assam. The airborne aircraft had total 13 people on board including eight aircrew and five passengers.

Details:

• AN-32 aircraft got airborne on 3 June from Jorhat at 12:27 p.m. for Mechuka Advanced Landing
  Ground (only 29 kms from the China border), in Mechuka Valley in West Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh. It last contacted ground agencies at around 1:00 p.m. after that there has been was no contact with the aircraft. Since the aircraft lost the contact and did not reach the destination also Indian Air Force initiated overdue actions.

Search Operation:

• C 130J Super Hercules aircraft, AN-32 military transport aircraft, two Mi-17 (medium twin-turbine transport helicopter) of Indian Aiir Force (IAF) and ALH (Advanced Light Helicopters) helicopter of Indian Army were launched to locate the missing aircraft.
• Helicopters were routed to the location after some ground reports were received about possible location of a crash site however no wreckage has been sighted so far.
• IAF is in continuous coordination with Indian Army and with various government and civil agencies to locate the missing aircraft. The Search operation to locate the missing IAF AN- 32 aircraft is underway with operation from air by IAF and by ground parties of Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

AN-32:

• It is a tactical transport aircraft and is an extensive used by Indian Air Force (IAF).
• It has been in service since 1984 and has been a trustworthy workhorse for the IAF for many years.

Specification:

• As the service ceiling of Antonov An-32 turboprop aircraft is 31,000ft so it flies lower and slower with a cruising speed of 470 kmph than most commercial jetliners which have a service ceiling of 40,000ft, thus this gives lesser room for the An-32 to outrun bad weather or climb over it.