Exclusive: As Uttarakhand chopper crash probe widens, focus on flights that took off before and after

Not long after the Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter, which crashed in Uttarakhand’s Sthan Marwadi on Friday, took off, two other choppers departed from Badrinath and landed safely at their destinations, The Indian Express has learnt. One left just eight minutes after the aircraft, and another nearly an hour later, officials told The Indian Express, adding that two other flights that flew before the Trans Bharat chopper also completed their journeys safely.

This, officials indicated, will be considered as part of the probe as they try to understand whether the crash was the result of “adverse weather conditions” – as initially suggested by the authorities – or a combination of factors.

While flying operations in the Badrinath Valley had been suspended for three hours on Friday morning because of inclement weather between 9 am and noon, they resumed after conditions improved.

The Trans Bharat helicopter departed from Dehradun at 12.20 pm and landed at Badrinath at 1.11 pm. Immediately after landing, it is learnt that the pilot picked up five passengers for the return journey to Dehradun. The helicopter crashed while making this journey.

“It was not like the flight was starting from Badrinath; it had already made a successful trip from Dehradun to Badrinath and was going back to Dehradun… Two flights were flown successfully before this flight too. And two flights were again safely able to reach Dehradun after this flight… We are not sure what exactly went wrong – it could be a local weather phenomenon or some other issue,” an official told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.

He added that authorities are speaking to pilots who had flown in the region around the time of the accident to understand the conditions prevailing at the time.

Wreckage of the helicopter in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, on Friday. (ANI)

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team has reached the accident site, and efforts are underway to retrieve as many aircraft components as possible to reconstruct the sequence of events.

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“We have not received the black box yet. The team is at the accident spot. And we are trying to retrieve as many parts as possible to analyse the situation completely,” the official said.

The wreckage has been almost entirely destroyed, he said, with the tail section being the only part that remains relatively intact.

The Chamoli district administration’s initial Action Taken Report had said the helicopter encountered adverse weather conditions in the Hathi Parvat area and crashed while descending towards a lower altitude. The India Meteorological Department had issued an orange alert for Chamoli on October 30, warning of thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, hail and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph in isolated areas.

Difficult terrain delays recovery of bodies

Meanwhile, the recovery of the six bodies from the crash site has been hampered by the difficult terrain. The accident site is 20-22 km from the nearest roadhead and can only be accessed through a difficult trek.

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A joint team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was dispatched on Saturday morning to retrieve the bodies and bring them to the nearest roadhead.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority Chief Executive Officer Prateek Jain said, “They have been on the route for the last 12 hours, and will be reaching by tonight to the nearest roadhead… the district administration will transport them by ambulance from Joshimath to Rishikesh. Post-mortem examinations will be conducted there, after which the bodies will be handed over to the families.”

Co-pilots to be mandatory for charter operations

Meanwhile, the DGCA has decided to make the presence of a co-pilot mandatory for all charter helicopter operations for the remainder of the season, the official said.

A meeting was held on Saturday to discuss flight operations for the remainder of the season, following which the regulator decided against allowing single-pilot operations for charter flights.

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“The DGCA has taken a decision that we will not allow single-pilot operations. It’s a mandatory requirement now. We have set it in stone that a co-pilot will be mandatory for all the charter operations from now on; further investigation into the cause of the accident is underway,” Jain said.