A.P C.M YS Rajasekhara Reddy Missing

[ramana]

Deccan Chronicle has more detailed report

Blind flying by helicopter pilots killed YSR January 21st, 2010

PTI New Delhi, Jan. 20:

Pointing at the pilot error, the inquiry committee probing the copter crash — that killed Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and others on board — has concluded that the crew, after noticing a technical snag in bad weather, were “engrossed for vital six minutes before the (collision) impact in searching for the relevant checklist from the flight manual” and that this “distracted their attention from the prevailing poor visibility weather conditions thus leading to the loss of situational awareness”.



The committee concluded that the probable cause of the accident was that it “occurred due to loss of control resulting in uncontrolled descent on the terrain at a very high rate of descent due to entry into severe down draught”. A down draught is a powerful current of air moving downwards during thunderstorms and bad weather.



The report also points out that “the crew flew in instrument flying condition though the flight plan was cleared for Visual Flight Rules (VFR)”. Instrument flying condition is when pilots fly primarily with reference to instruments instead of being guided by the visibility outside. The instrument flying condition is also referred to as blind flying and is regarded by helicopter aviation experts as one of the main reasons behind accidents.



The pilot of the ill-fated helicopter that crashed on September 2, 2009 was Gp. Capt. S.K. Bhatia, a senior serving IAF officer, while the co-pilot was M.S. Reddy.



The fact that the committee has concluded that the crew lost six crucial minutes before the collision in their search for a flight manual checklist in bad weather indicates that YSR and other passengers onboard could have been saved from the crash had there not been this error on the part of the pilots.



The combined result of the down draught — that aided rapid loss of altitude of the helicopter in bad weather — and the “loss in situation awareness” triggered by the crew’s search for a checklist led to the crash.



The Bell-430 helicopter of the AP Government crashed into the Rudrakoduru Hills near Kurnool while on a flight from Hyderabad on September 2, 2009.



The obvious pilot error, hinted at by the report, is shocking since Group Captain Bhatia was regarded by the IAF as a seasoned pilot with an abundance of flying experience. Even top IAF officers had referred to Gp. Capt. Bhatia as a “very experienced pilot”.

Two things:



- The pilot was very experienced IAF officer.

- Did they find the checklist at the crash site? or is it conjecture?

- What was the technical snag?



Should we expect more tension in Andhra Pradesh due to this report?