2015 Indian Border Security Force King Air crash
Beechcraft Super King Air 200 · Pilot error leading to spatial disorientation and loss of control
From Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Birsa Munda Airport (IXR)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR16WA051
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Final · AAIB final report
- Event fatalities
- 10 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 10
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 1 · all on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Government
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Beechcraft Super King Air 200
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft Super King AIR-200
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VT-BSA
- Operator
- Border Security Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 10
- Route
- From Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)To Birsa Munda Airport (IXR)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Public Aircraft
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Unknown or undetermined
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Documented · Crash site as stated in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report. No uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
On 22 December 2015, a light aircraft of the Indian Border Security Force crashed within the grounds of Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India. Ten personnel of the Border Security Force, three officers and seven senior technicians, were killed. The 22-year-old Beechcraft B200 King Air took off for Ranchi just before 9.30am, before crashing shortly afterwards.
Accident
After the aircraft's engines were started the crew reported that there was a problem (the nature of which has not been reported), but continued with the flight after receiving advice from ground staff. The aircraft took off at 9:27am local time with an expected arrival time at Ranchi of 12:00pm.
Soon after taking off, the crew informed air traffic control that something was wrong and that they would return to Delhi. The pilots were then cleared to make an emergency landing on Delhi's Runway 28. At 9:40 AM, contact was lost with the aircraft. The plane then veered to the left, narrowly missing a village. It brushed a tree before hitting the perimeter wall of the airport and crashed into a sewage treatment plant within the airport complex. The aircraft then caught fire and was destroyed. All ten occupants were killed and another on the ground was injured.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause can be attributed to pilot error who incorrectly activated the autopilot and failed to take the proper corrective action. Five recommendations are also made.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2015 Indian Border Security Force King Air crash” (revision 1339298672, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India has notified the NTSB of an accident involving a Beech Super King Air B-200, registration VT-BSA, that occurred on December 22, 2015. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the AAIB investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacturer and Design of the airplane.
Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)
Safdarjung Airport
New Delhi - 110 003
India
Tel No.: +91-011-24620272, 73
Fax No.: +91-011-24616715
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2015 Indian Border Security Force King Air crash
- Revision
- 1339298672 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q24908565
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record WPR16WA051
- Event ID
- 20160112X14914
- Case number
- WPR16WA051
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2015 Indian Border Security Force King Air crash" (page 50604662, revision 1339298672); merged with NTSB case WPR16WA051 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record WPR16WA051
- Operation
- operator is a government agency according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities; matches the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report
- Ground fatalities
- Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2015 Indian Border Security Force King Air crash" and NTSB case WPR16WA051, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
- Checked against the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India - Committee of Inquiry constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation final report on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, fatalities, registration, operator, departure, destination, damage and type of operation. Taken from the report: crash-site coordinates and ground fatalities. Not checked: place, flight number and aircraft type.