Sent by plane across India, member was sick (9)
I believe the answer is:
airmailed
'sent by plane' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'across india member was sick' is the wordplay.
'across' is an insertion indicator.
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'member' becomes 'arm' (arm is a kind of member).
'was sick' becomes 'ailed' (I've seen this before).
'i' placed inside 'arm' is 'airm'.
'airm'+'ailed'='AIRMAILED'
(Other definitions for airmailed that I've seen before include "sent via Dakota?" , "Sent by plane" .)