On Wednesday, CDS General Bipin Rawat took off from Sulur Airbase for Wellington in an Air Force Mi-17v5 chopper. At Nanjappa Chatram in Coonoor, the chopper met with an accident, killing 13 of the 14 people on board, including CDS Rawat. Air Force Group Captain Varun Singh, who was flying the chopper is fighting for life in hospital.
Chief of Defense Bipin Rawat along with his wife and other staff were present in this helicopter. Among them Brigadier L.S. Lidder (Direct Assistant), Lt Col Harjinder Singh (Special Officer), Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, L/NK B. Sai Teja, Havildar Satpal were present. The place where this chopper crashed, this whole area is covered with forest.
After the chopper was crashed, there were many questions that came to the fore. Some questions are like- why it happened, how it happened, were all the protocols followed and one of the biggest questions is ‘did the Air Force do a flight route recce before the CDS flight?’ Contradictory things are coming out about this.
According to an official, to check the weather conditions on the route through which the CDS was to fly, two small helicopters of the Air Force were sent but we cannot say with certainty whether the two helicopters had landed at the Wellington helipad or came back without landing, the official told on condition of anonymity.
According to the initial information, the weather was bad around Coonoor, which became the reason for the accident. However, the exact reason behind the accident is not yet known. The Indian Air Force has ordered an inquiry into this accident.
On the other hand, a senior officer of the Madras Regimental Center in Wellington said something else. He said- "Since the Mi-17v5 is a reliable helicopter, no trials were conducted with smaller helicopters”.
CDS Rawat was going to Wellington to the Defense Services Staff College to deliver a lecture.
In Nanjappa Chatram, eyewitnesses said that they neither saw nor heard any other chopper during the day.
Retired Air Force Officer S. Ramesh Kumar said, 'Very experienced pilot was flying the Mi-17v5. The chopper was technically very advanced and I suspect human error may have caused the accident’.
He said, 'It may be that the fog or clouds have been thicker than normal. But in such a situation, the pilot has to make a decision quickly. Maybe there was a mistake in taking the decision’.
Kumar also said that the black box of the chopper has been found. It will be possible to know from the box what happened at the last moment that led to this accident.
On one side, Ramesh Kumar is suspecting human error., Aviation Security Consultant Mohan Ranganatha’s thinking is different. He said- ‘I have carefully watched the video of the last moment of the chopper. The fog was heavy and the chopper was flying very low. I think the main reason for the accident is related to the weather’.
