Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and School Education Minister Kedar Kashyap had a narrow escape after the State helicopter in which they were travelling developed a technical snag mid air while returning from Sukma on Monday.
A major mishap was averted when the seasoned pilot successfully stabilized the several feet sudden drop in Helicopter’s altitude.
Both the Chief Minister and School Education Minister were returning from Sukma to Raipur in the State-owned twin engine 'Augusta 109 Power Elite' helicopter.
The helicopter experienced a sudden drop in altitude of about 50 to 100 feet in air around 1600 hrs on Monday, informed Senior Pilot, GK Panda (Wing Commander Retd.)
“There is an instrument in the helicopter called ‘Flight Director’ which is coupled with the auto-pilot system. It seems that there was some malfunction in this device due to which something went wrong with the autopilot which in turn caused the sudden altitude drop of about 50 to 100 feet,” Senior Pilot GK Panda said.
We quickly took the helicopter on manual mode and then safely landed at Police lines ground here, he said.
“We are trained for managing such situations,” the chopper pilot said while adding that sudden drop in flight’s altitude caused abrupt jerk which was experienced by passengers on board.
According to the Pilots, the Chopper had taken off from Sukma around 3.30 pm and faced the technical snag around 4.15 pm and safely landed in Raipur at 4.15 pm.
Notably, the ‘Augusta 109 Power Elite’ is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter built by the Anglo-Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland.