The Cheetah helicopter of the Army Aviation Corps crashed at around 8.55am at Jachak Nagar, killing both its occupants -- Captain Bhanu Pratap Gupta and Major Atul Garje, army officials probing the crash said.
Two young pilots of the Army Aviation Corps were killed when the Cheetah helicopter they were flying nosedived into a civilian area barely a hundred feet away from the Gandhinagar airfield, from where it took off on Wednesday morning.
The Cheetah of the Jodhpur aviation base was on its way to Bangalore to participate in the static display of the Army Aviation at the Aero India show being held from February 9 to 11.
The pilots, Major Atul Garje and Major Banupratap Gupta of the 669 Army Aviation squadron, Nagtalao, Jodhpur, took off from their base two days ago. After a brief break in Nashik at the Combat Army Aviation Training School base in Gandhinagar, they took off on the morning of February 2 on their journey ahead. It is understood that the chopper was to take a break at Goa before reaching Bangalore.
Residents of Jachak Nagar at Bhawani Road, adjacent to the army area, heard a loud noise between 8.55am and 9.05am. “I was on the terrace of my house when I saw the helicopter sail in the air before it came wobbling down,” said Chetan Bhalerao, a resident of the locality.
The chopper crashed in the open premises of a bungalow called Vastupark belonging to Bhagwan and Meera Patil. Bhagwan is a worker at the Currency Note Press and was out for work when the incident took place. Meera, a school teacher, was also out for Census counting.
“We both left early and locked the home at 7am. I also took my Maruti Van to work, which is otherwise parked in the car park shed where the chopper crashed. We were informed of the incident and rushed home. Thankfully, no one was at home when the incident took place.”
Vijay Patil, who stays next to Vastupark, said: “The helicopter initially took a round. It then appeared like its rotors stopped. It toppled in the air and nosedived over the car park.”
“Residents called the police, and we rushed help immediately. Though the Army Aviation helicopter fell in a civilian area, there were no civilian casualties and not much damage to property. However, the two pilots lost their lives,” said officiating commissioner of police Dr Nikhil Gupta.
The police and fire brigade were the first to reach the site followed by the army. The dense housing area was cordoned off and the bodies were removed from the debris by chief fire officer Anil Mahajan and his team. Army Aviation officials refused to speak.
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