‘Bad weather led to crash’
The inquiry report — into the crash of a Pawan Hans helicopter in Arunachal Pradesh in May 2011 that killed the then Arunachal chief minister Dorjee Khandu and all others on board including the two pilots — has concluded that the probable cause of the crash was “inadvertent controlled flight into terrain in
inclement weather”. The inquiry report was submitted to the civil aviation ministry on Thursday. Well-placed sources told this newspaper that the ill-fated helicopter — which was on a flight from Tawang to Itanagar — went into the clouds and crashed into a hillock ahead of which the pilots could not see (since the chopper was in the clouds). This happened just after the helicopter crossed the Sela Pass.
The inquiry report also noted that there was no data flight recorder or cockpit voice recorder in the helicopter and has recommended the presence of a recording device in helicopters which will greatly assist investigations into any crash. The inquiry report has also stated that there was no technical problem in the helicopter. This was conclusively proved after the debris was sent to France for examination.
The inquiry committee was headed by former IAF Western Air Command chief Air Marshal (retd.) P.S. Ahluwalia.
Sources said the pilots may have seen intermittent clouds over the Sela Pass from Tawang but were probably unaware that there would be such deterioration in weather at the Sela Pass. Sources pointed out that the alternate route (for such a flight) was over Bhutan where the weather was clear. But the pilots were obviously unaware that there was such bad weather ahead, sources said.
Sources also said that before the flight, the helicopter took off from Tawang but realised that there was excess weight following which it landed back immediately at Tawang where one passenger was off-loaded along with some baggage. The helicopter then took off for the ill-fated flight to Itanagar. Sources said this may indicate a hurry of some sort.
The report also recommended that the pilots should carry personnel rescue beacons during flights that send out transmissions so that the chopper can be traced quickly in any eventuality by search and rescue aircraft. In this case, the emergency locator transmitter on the chopper failed probably because of a broken antenna.
The state-owned Pawan Helicopters Ltd (PHHL) had stated in May this year just after the crash that the chopper carrying the (then) Arunachal Chief Minister was a “brand new chopper (that) was acquired in 2010”.
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