Helicopter crash-lands in Bangalore

A Bell – 407 helicopter belonging to Deccan Aviation crash-landed in a lake bed on the outskirts of Bangalore on Monday evening minutes after take-off from the Jakkur aerodrome. Both the pilots in the helicopter escaped with minor injuries.

The pilots Captain Vishnu Rawal and Captian R Menon were on a routine flight in the helicopter, which is used as a VIP chartered chopper, when the mishap took place.

According to eyewitnesses, the helicopter was hovering over the Jakkur lake and suddenly came down. The cause for the snag was yet to be ascertained, according to officials of Deccan Aviation. A team of officials from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is expected to arrive here from New Delhi to investigate the crash.

The helicopter is understood to have encountered technical snag within fifteen minutes after take off on Monday evening. The six-seater chopper was brought down on the lake-bed and slid down a mound before coming to rest. The heavy landing broke its tail. The pilots jumped out of the cockpit even as the rotor blades were rotating and ran to safety.

The pilots were immediately taken to a private hospital and given medical treatment for the minor injuries they suffered during the mishap. The doctors attending on them said the two pilots are out of danger.

Meanwhile, within seconds of the crash-landing, a large number of people started flocking to see the wreckage. The mishap generated much excitement in the villages nearby and groups of people made a beeline to the lake bed for a closer look at the helicopter.

The police had made arrangements for armed personnel to guard the helicopter throughout the night.

Deccan Aviation officials said the pilots were having a professional check sortie when the main rotor developed a loss of rotations per minute (RPM). The landing gear, tail rotor boom and blades, besides the canopy of the helicopter had been damaged.