The Jharkhand government has placed on hold the extension of Red Bird Airways’ contract for VIP and VVIP flights following the fatal crash of the company’s air ambulance on February 23, 2026, Health and Family Welfare Minister Irfan Ansari announced in the Jharkhand Assembly on March 14, 2026, according to reporting by Indian Express and NDTV Profit.
The crash involved a Beechcraft C90 King Air aircraft, registered as VT-AJV and operated by Red Bird Airways, which lost contact with air traffic control approximately 20 minutes after departing Ranchi at 19:11 IST on a flight to Delhi, according to NDTV Profit and Business Today. The aircraft came down in the Kasaria area of Simaria Block in Chatra district. All seven people on board were killed, including two pilots, a burn-victim patient, two attendants, a doctor, and a paramedic, according to the research documents.
The Black Box Gap
The investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has been complicated by the absence of a flight data recorder on the aircraft, according to Business Today. Current civil aviation regulations in India do not mandate flight data recorders — commonly known as black boxes — on aircraft weighing less than 5,700 kilograms. The Beechcraft C90 falls below this threshold. Investigators are therefore relying on air traffic control data and eyewitness accounts to reconstruct the sequence of events, according to Business Today.
Minister Ansari stated that the decision to halt the contract extension followed direct consultation with Chief Minister Hemant Soren and was prompted by intense questioning from opposition legislators regarding the safety protocols governing private aviation contractors, according to Indian Express. Transport Minister Deepak Birua separately argued that state ownership of a helicopter costing between ₹80 crore and ₹100 crore is fiscally impractical due to ongoing maintenance and pilot hiring costs, according to the research documents. Opposition MLA Shashibhushan Mehta countered that continued reliance on private charters imposes an undue burden on the public exchequer while compromising safety standards, according to the same sources.
