In yet another mid-air mishap, a Cheetah helicopter of the Army reportedly crashed moments after taking off from an airbase in Cantt area of Bareilly, killing the two pilots and an engineer, on Wednesday morning..
“The incident occurred this morning soon after the helicopter took off,” senior superintendent of police in Bareilly, J Ravindra Gaud, disclosed to the media persons after visiting the spot. The helicopter developed some technical problem and crashed at the aviation base. Pilots Major Abhijit Thapa (29) and Captain Avinash (26) and flight engineer Major Vikas Baryani (29), who sustained critical injuries, were taken to
the military base hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. According to sources, the helicopter was on a routine flight. Eyewitnesses claimed that the chopper appeared to be in trouble moments after lifting off. It soon caught fire and crashed at the airbase.
In a similar mid-air crash of an Indian Air Force chopper about two months back, all seven persons on board including the pilot and co-pilot were killed. The tragic incident took place at Panditpurwa locality of Atariya in Sitapur. The pilot reportedly made a contact just before the crash seeking emergency landing due to some technical stag. According to reports, the Indian Air Force chopper (AlH Dhruv-370), having seven persons on board took off from Bareilly air force centre to reach Allahabad air force centre. While flying over Sitapur, the chopper received some snag after which the pilot seems to have made efforts for an emergency landing at Panditpurwa locality of Atariya, about 50-kilometres from lucknow. However, the aircraft suddenly crashed mid-air and later also caught fire leaving all the seven dead.