Chopper crashes in Nashik; 2 Army officers killed

[Contract Killer]

A Chetak helicopter of the Army on Wednesday crashed in a residential area in Nashik, Maharashtra [ Images ], killing two officers but there was no casualty on the ground.

The helicopter, which on a routine sortie had taken off from Gandhinagar for Army Aviation Training School in Nashik, crashed after hitting a bungalow in Jachak Nagar area at 0855 hours, army and police officials said.

"Nobody was present in the bungalow at the time of the crash and the house also did not suffer any major damage," police officers said.

The victims were identified as Major Atul Garje and Captain Bhanu Das of Army aviation base in Jodhpur [ Images ], Army sources said.

The bodies of the two officers were extricated from the mangled remains of the helicopter by fire brigade and Army personnel.

Nasik District Magistrate P Velasani said there was no civilian casualty and the helicopter as per the preliminary investigation crashed due to possible technical failure.

"All we can say is that both the pilots on board are dead. The helicopter crashed in a civilian area and there is no civilian casualty. Investigations are on," he said.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

RIP....

Sad News.....

 

[FGFAPilot1]

Very sad news

 

[Tshering22]

What a sad news! May the heros find eternal peace and harmony in their home beyond.

Why don't they just stop making those ancient Chetaks and Cheetals and just ramp up the LOH production eh? How many more pilots have to die? And then they complain they are short of people .

 

[prateikf]

India to Phase Out Chetak, Cheetah Helicopters; Bell 407 Shen to be Acquired
http://www.india-defence.com/reports-2953
The defence minister antony and his ministry are responsible for the crash and the deaths of pilots who lose their lives flying obsolete helicopters. In 2007 itself the minister had promised in writing to acquire new helicopters as the cheetah fleet was old and obsolete. 4 years have passes and we are no where close to even selecting a new helicopter. The soldiers would surely be wondering as to who the enemy really is.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/withdraw-cheetah-chetak-choppers/745403/

 

[bhogta]

RIP to brave army men.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[Ray]

Cheetah is a very fine helicopter and so is the Chetak, but they have lived their service life and the system of replacement of parts in penny packets as they wear out is possibly not producing the overall synergy essential with the other parts or with the airframe for total operational flying efficiency.

Of the newspapers I read, one mentioned that the rotors stopped functioning. Now, if that happened then auto rotation was not feasible. This is a rare thing to happen, but it can happen for a variety of reasons.

 

[venkat]

why helo crashes takes place just before the start of aeroIndia? Is it a sabotage? Last time in 2007 two Sarang pilots died during rehearsals...one pilot survived and was in coma, just days back only he expired...

 

[Ray]

I don't think it is sabotage.

Sarang is a high risk platform where total concentration is mandatory. It is possible that for some good reason, there was a lapse and being a split second affair, there is a crash.

The heptr crash is most likely to be maintenance error or structural fatigue or poor quality parts.

I don't think that at that height, that speed and with the type of traffic there, there are chances of pilot error.