This is what it took to locate the charred helicopter of Dr YSR that crashed in dense Kurnool forests

The mission to search and rescue Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy though ended on a sad note the Indian Air Force (IAF) proved that it is a force to reckon with not just the equipment but strategy too.

The IAF in less than 24 hour flew seven different kinds of aircrafts to locate the chopper carrying the missing chief minister, using for the first time, its front line fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30- MKI along with the mid-air refueler IL-78 for the purpose.
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The aircrafts used everything- their night flying capability, advanced cameras, ability to look deep into the forest and in pitch darkness to complete the mission.

The crashed chopper's last signal was received by Shamshabad and Chennai ATCs.

The SMS sent by one of the mobiles in the crashed chopper also helped a lot as the mobile network provider helped the aircraft in further zeroing in on the area.
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A four square kilometer wide area was chalked out where the chopper could have fallen. Finally the coordinates were received at 154714 latitude and 784263 longitudes. Theu00a0 site was a small hill in the thick forest.

2nd September

1:15 PM- IAF received the first call about chief minister's chopper missing.u00a0

Within 15 minutes two Chetaks from Hakimpet Helicopter Training School were airborne

40 minutes later one Mi-8 joined in the operation from Yelahanka airbase in Karnataka

4:30 PM- One Dornier got airborne from Bangalore to look into the area covering Cuddapah, Sri Sailam, Chittoor.u00a0u00a0