A Cheetah light utility helicopter of Army Aviation Corps crashed in Bareilly Cantonment on Wednesday soon after take-off killing all three on board. The helicopter was undergoing test flight and had done one sortie and landed safely. The mishap took place when the helicopter took off for the second sortie around 7.45 am.
The three-member crew, including pilots Major Abhijit Thapa (29) and Captain Avinash (26), and flight engineer Major Vikas Baryani, suffered critical injuries and succumbed at the Bareilly military base hospital, officials said. An enquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, they added. Eyewitnesses claimed that the helicopter caught fire soon after take-off and crashed at the airbase.
This accident has raised concerns over the ageing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters used by the Army Aviation Corps.
These helicopters are the lifeline for troops deployed on Siachen Glacier, remote areas of ladakh and the North-East as they maintain logistical line and airlift medical casualties.
The Army is operating nearly 200 such helicopters for the last 25 years and they are now in the final stages of their operational life. The Government invited tenders for 197 helicopters in 2005 and scrapped the Rs 6,000 crore deal in August this year following alleged wrong practices during technical trials. Eurocopter and Kamov helicopters were in the race for the contract when it was scrapped.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on August 29, invited Indian manufacturers to build these helicopters in India with foreign collaboration. The Government hopes to generate business worth over Rs 40,000 crore by manufacturing helicopters within the country.
However, India lacks capabilities in aerospace industry and does not have the technical known how to undertake a venture of such sophistication. At present, the public sector aviation giant Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) is the only Indian entity to have the facilities to manufacture a helicopter but it is already overburdened with the production of several aircraft. In this backdrop, the 197-helicopter deal may be delayed by another five years.