Human Error Behind Gen Bipin Rawat’s Chopper Crash

• Image Credit: google

• Dec 20, 2024 | Kabita Pathak

 The unfortunate incident of the Mi-17 V5 crash brings the tragic elements in Indian aviation history into the limelight…

Digital Desk: The Mi-17 V5 helicopter accident on 8th Dec 2021, which cost the precious lives of India’s first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madulika Rawat, and 12 others, was due to human error, concludes the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. The panel has given the reasons for the accident while submitting its report in the Lok Sabha as human error (aircrew) and not any mechanical failure, sabotage, or negligence.

 The Russian-origin reliable Mi-17 V5 helicopter crashed near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. The fully serviceable chopper took off from Sulur Air Base at about 11:48 a.m. on board the code number 117, airborne to the helicopter pad at Wellington Golf Course. Contact was lost with air traffic control at 12:08 pm, just seven minutes before it was due to land at 12:15 pm. Consequently, the low-flying helicopter met a sudden change of weather, and in flying back, got involved in a cloud, which they hit the terrain.

 In January 2022, the Indian Air Force supported the findings of the panel by releasing its initial report that pointed at the spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting from the unexpected weather conditions that caused the controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). This excluded any possibility of technical cut and dry or other interference.

The parliamentary report also considered 34 air crashes that occurred between 2017 and 2022 with identified causes relating to aircrew and servicing personnel, technical malfunctions, foreign objects, and birds. Some are still pending investigation.

 The unfortunate incident of the Mi-17 V5 crash brings the tragic elements in Indian aviation history into the limelight and brings the change of training and improvement in adverse weather and decrease in the human error