CDS General Bipin Rawat copter crash: No distress call or technical glitch, says report

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 5

A sudden cloud cover, which “blinded” the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots flying the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, has been identified as a reason for the helicopter crash that killed all its 14 occupants.

There was no distress call by the pilots, the probe report says. The Tribune was the first to report this aspect in its December 10 edition.

The helicopter did not suffer from any technical problem and crashed when it entered a low-visibility patch just minutes before the scheduled landing.

Russian built Mi-17V5 copter carrying the CDS, his wife Madhulika and his military attache, Brig LS Lidder, among others crashed just around noon on December 8.

The pilots (Mi-17V5 has two pilots) encountered a sudden cloud cover, it meant they were unsighted and the helicopter hit a cliff.

Today, a high-level team of the IAF, including Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Training Command, who headed the Triservices inquiry into the crash, briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue.

Technically, the crash is called controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) when an aircraft crashes into the ground due to disorientation of the crew and not a technical glitch. A CIFT is noted as a common reason for crashes in bad weather in mountainous regions.

IAF findings on CDS copter crash

There was no distress call by the pilots, the probe report says
The helicopter did not suffer from any technical problem
It crashed when it entered a low-visibility patch before landing due to sudden cloud cover