Rescue flights in rain can lead to accidents

Three possibilities

He said the problem began with "bad climate compounded by bad judgment." With low cloud cover, the helicopter would have been flying low. "If the pilot tried to escape certain weather patterns on the way and deviated from the planned route, the helicopter would have crashed into a hill," he said.

Secondly, a "catastrophe failure" cannot be ruled out. He cites the example of the tail rotor flying off. In this case, chances of a safe landing are remote and almost always, the helicopter crashes.

The Bell 430 has two engines, and even if one failed, the helicopter could have landed safely. Then again, he added, the dense forest was a problem.

Pandey does not rule out the chances of the helicopter being shot down by Naxals. "One can bring down a helicopter with small arms and the Naxals are quite sophisticated," he said. They could have hit the helicopter as it was flying low due to the bad weather.

"Something must have occurred suddenly," he said.u00a0

Finding the helicopter may not be easy in dense forests. He gave the example of the first fighter jet shot down during the Gulf war in 1991, found only now.

More on Pandey
Pandeyu00a0was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Headquarters Training Command, IAF, in Bangalore. He was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal and the Ati Vishist Seva Medal. He served the Republic of Singapore Air Force and was also the Air Attachu00e9 at the Indian Embassy in Kabul during the war in Afghanistan.

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