Uttarkashi chopper crash that killed 6: AAIB says pilot tried highway landing
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The report noted that the chopper began descending from its assigned altitude around 20 minutes after taking off from Kharsali helipad at 8:11am.
"During the landing attempt, the helicopter's main rotor blade struck an overhead fibre cable running parallel to the road. It also damaged some roadside metallic barricades. However, the helicopter was unable to land and tumbled down the hillside. Eventually, it came to rest against a tree, approximately 250 feet deep into a gorge," the report said.
The Bell 407 helicopter, bearing registration VT-OXF, was operated by M/s Aero Trans Services Pvt Ltd. The crash killed the pilot and five passengers and seriously injured one passenger. The helicopter was destroyed, though there was no fire. The aircraft was scheduled to carry out a hill familiarisation-check flight followed by charter flying for the Char Dham yatra. Both flights were to be handled by different pilots.
The first flight took off at 5:39am from Sahastradhara helipad with two pilots, including an examiner, and three passengers. It was a dual-pilot check flight and returned safely at 6:56am. No defects were reported, and the authorised aircraft maintenance engineer (AME), who held a valid DGCA CAT 'A' licence, had found no discrepancies during the pre-flight inspection.
The next leg — Sahastradhara to Kharsali, Jhala, Phata, and Lower Jamu — was a single-pilot charter operation. The helicopter took off again at 7:45am with six passengers on board and landed at Kharsali helipad. After offloading the passengers and luggage, another group of six passengers boarded the chopper for Jhala.
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