An Mi-17 helicopter of the Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, killing all personnel on board. The military attributed the accident to a technical fault during take-off, and a board of inquiry has been ordered. Top Pakistani leaders expressed condolences.
A Pakistan Army Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir due to a technical fault, killing all personnel on board. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident, which follows other recent helicopter crashes in the region.
The Russian-made chopper, owned by the provincial government of Punjab, was on its way to Russia on routine maintenance when it suffered unknown technical glitch and had to force land in Azra district of restive Logar province on Thursday.
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A snag-hit helicopter being towed to Gauchar for repairs by an MI-17 chopper of the Indian Air Force crashed in the hills near Kedarnath on Saturday morning.
The helicopter is fitted with a self-defence system against heat seeker missiles, heavily-armoured cockpit, vital systems and components.
The IAF chief said there was no technical problem in the engine of the aircraft as the Mi 17 V5 fleet is still flying.
A parliamentary panel report has attributed the December 8, 2021, helicopter crash that killed India's first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, and his wife, to "human error." The report, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, also revealed that 34 Indian Air Force aircraft accidents occurred during the 13th Defence Plan period, including nine in 2021-22 and 11 in 2018-19.
A general court martial (GCM) instituted by the Indian Air Force has ordered the sacking of a group captain for the crash of an Mi-17 V5 helicopter in Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir after it was hit by a missile on February 27, 2019, official sources said on Tuesday.
Here is a timeline of what happened to the Indian Air Force helicopter carrying Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and others that crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday:
The chopper took off at 11.48 am from the Sulur Air Base and was reported to be missing at around 12.22 pm, sources informed.
Sitting amidst Indian Air Force helicopter pilots -- less than 36 hours after they had lost five of their buddies in the Mi-17 crash -- provided an object lesson in putting duty before self. Grieving they certainly were over the loss of close friends and colleagues, but the sorrow was channelised in doing the job at hand with renewed zeal and dedication, says Nitin Gokhale
Four Army personnel were killed and one was reported missing after the twin-engine weapon system integrated (WSI) version of the indigenously-built helicopter went down at Migging village in Upper Siang district of the border state at 10.43 am on Friday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday called on President Ram Nath Kovind and briefed him about the chopper crash near Coonoor that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 armed forces personnel.
Videos from the scene, shot by locals in Morena, showed debris of the aircraft on the ground.
'The accident was a result of entry into clouds due to unexpected change in weather conditions in the valley. This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT),' it stated.
The black box, comprising the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), of the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force was recovered from the crash site on Thursday.
It is learnt that the probe team led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh examined all likely scenarios for the crash including possible human error or whether it was a case of disorientation by the crew when the helicopter was preparing for landing.
All the mangled remains of the helicopter, which crashed at Nanjapachatram near Coonoor in the Nilgiris district killing 14 including the country's first chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat have been collected from the site.
The advanced light helicopter, carrying Army personnel, was on regular sorties, he said. The incident took place at 10.43 am, and search operation is underway, the official said.
The inquiry teams had started their work on the very next day the incident took place. The statements are being recorded and in one or two cases, some people have changed their account of the incidents, they said.
Sources said Singh has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash and the Indian Air Force chief has been asked to reach the site.
The person had on Facebook posted derogatory comments about Rawat and the crash and also linked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to it, which went viral, police said.
The defence ministry in an official statement has informed that the minister will give a statement in Rajya Sabha at 11.30 am and in Lok Sabha at 12.15 pm.
Out of the 13 people killed in the IAF helicopter crash near Coonoor on Wednesday, the mortal remains of only Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and Brig LS Lidder could be identified, officials said on Thursday.
The Srinagar officials said the aircraft broke into two and caught fire immediately.
The crash of the Mi-17 V5 took place at around 6 am when it was on a maintenance mission.
'With deep regret, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have died in the unfortunate accident,' the IAF tweeted.
Three people were killed after the MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed into a house in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan shortly after it took off for a routine training sortie from the Air Force Station at Suratgarh.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh who headed the tri-service investigation into the crash apprised Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the findings of the probe on Wednesday.
Official sources said Singh will brief President Kovind about the accident as well as the situation arising out of it.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others were killed when an Indian Air Force helicopter carrying them crashed on Wednesday near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu in apparently foggy conditions, killing 13 people on board, the IAF and other officials said.
Singh's last rites will be conducted at the Mahatma Gandhi Government School ground in his Ghardana Khurd village and thousands are expected to gather to bid him farewell.
IAF Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor in the helicopter crash that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 12 others, is being shifted to Bengaluru from the Army hospital at Wellington in Tamil Nadu, his father said on Thursday.
Every part of the equipment salvaged from the remanants of the Mi-17V5 helicopter will be carefully examined to find out what went wrong in the final moments of the flight from the Sulur air base in Coimbatore to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington near Coonoor where General Rawat was headed.
'The odds were stacked against us.' 'Through it all, we were determined to overcome and prevail we did!' Wing Commander Shailesh Singh on the high-risk flying mission for which he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra.
A Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan army on Wednesday crashed in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, killing five persons and injuring three others, a spokesman said.
Singh said in a statement in the Lok Sabha that all efforts were being made to save IAF Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, who was on life support at the military hospital in Wellington.
Official sources said all the injured people on board the Mi-17V5 helicopter have been evacuated from the spot of the accident.
