NEW DELHI, Mar 16: Both the pilot and co-pilot of an Indian Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter were killed after it crashed near the Mandala hills area in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday, army officials said.
The two pilots — Lieutenant Colonel VVB Reddy and Major Jayanth A — were earlier reported to be missing. The aircraft lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller at 9:15 am, the army said.
Five search parties were immediately launched by the Indian Army, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) after the crash and the wreckage of the aircraft was found near Village Banglajaap East of Mandala, the army said, adding that a Court of Inquiry had been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident. “Both the pilots involved in the crash have lost their lives,” said Army officials.
The chopper had taken off from Sange village in the district at 9 am and was headed for Missamari in Assam’s Sonitpur district. “Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh was reported to have lost contact with the ATC at around 09:15 AM on 16 March 23. It is reported to have crashed near Mandala, west of Bomdila. Search parties have been launched,” the army had said.
Rohit Rajbir Singh, the Superintendent of Police, Special Investigation Cell explained that villagers had found the crashed chopper ablaze in Dirang, and informed district officials. “Villagers from Banglajaap at Dirang located the chopper around 12.30 pm. It is still burning,” Mr Singh said. The area has no mobile connectivity and the weather is extremely foggy with visibility as low as five meters, he added.
On March 8, a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter of the Navy was ditched at sea close to the coast off Mumbai which the Navy said was after the helicopter experienced “sudden loss of power and rapid loss of height.” Following this, all ALH in service we’re grounded for precautionary checks. “Some ALHs have resumed flying after some checks,” a Defence source said on this.
The ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters are in urgent need of replacement. Last October, a Cheetah helicopter crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh in which one pilot was killed. The Army Aviation currently operates around 190 Cheetah, Chetak and Cheetal helicopters, with five of them, the oldest, being over 50 years old. A bulk of the fleet, close to 130 of the 190, are between 30 to 50 years old.
This fleet is the lifeline in transporting supplies and for evacuations in the high-altitude areas including the Siachen glacier. In addition to the Army, the Navy and IAF too operate these helicopters. The total technical life of these helicopters will start finishing beginning this year which will only further exacerbate the existing deficiencies.
(Manas Dasgupta)
