'The helicopters crashed five minutes after they took off from Jamnagar air force station for a routine flying training mission,' said wing commander Gerard Galway.
Nine Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, including five officers, were killed when two MI-17 helicopters collided mid-air near Jamnagar air force base in Gujarat on Thursday. The collision took place near a firing range in Sarmat village, 20 km from the air force station and 15km from Jamnagar town.
“The helicopters crashed five minutes after they took off from Jamnagar air force station for a routine flying training mission,” said wing commander Gerard Galway.
The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to establish the cause of such an “unusual” mid-air collision which claimed the lives of three wing commanders, a squadron leader, a flying officer and four personnel below officer rank.
The court of inquiry will ascertain if the pilots violated the standard operating procedures (SOP). Prima facie, it appears that both the helicopters were not maintaining the required distance while carrying out such drills. “Normally the distance between two helicopters is about 60 metres when they take off simultaneously or are flying in close formation. The investigation will find out if there was any deviation from the SOP or a case of cockpit indiscipline,” a senior IAF official said.
IAF sources said the Russian-made helicopters were part of a Gwalior-based M-17 squadron which landed in Jamnagar air base to take part in the exercise.The IAF has about 200 such MI-17 helicopters, including 80 which were ordered recently. They were first inducted into the air force in 1985.
M-17 is an upgraded version of MI-8 and is used for both military and civilian purposes. The medium twin-turbine helicopter can be used for transport and as a gunship and has the capacity to carry 18 troops.
In 2010, a MI-17 helicopter crashed in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, killing 12 air force personnel. Last year, another MI-17 crashed in Tawang, killing 17 people.
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