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Seconds before Army ALH crash that killed soldier, pilot reported technical fault to ATC

The crash took place days after ALH fleet was cleared for flying again after back-to-back crashes involving Dhruv helicopters in use by Navy & Coast Guard.

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New Delhi: Seconds before Army’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv crash-landed in J&K’s Kishtwar district Thursday, killing one soldier on board, the pilots of the ill-fated chopper had relayed a message about technical fault to the Air Traffic Controller (ATC).

This crash took place just days after the ALH fleet was cleared for flying again after back-to-back crashes involving Dhruv helicopters in use by the Navy and the Coast Guard since March this year. 

Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the pilot had relayed to the ATC a message about a technical fault and that he was going to make an emergency landing.

However, given the foliage and what seemed like loss of power, the helicopter did what is officially known as ‘crash landing’, on the banks of Marua river.

“As per inputs, the pilots had reported a technical fault to the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) and proceeded for a precautionary landing. Due to the undulating ground, undergrowth and unprepared landing area, the helicopter apparently made a hard landing,” said a statement by the Army’s Northern Command issued Thursday. 

Sources added that some of the past crashes involving ALH Dhruv helicopters have definitely pointed to technical or manufacturing defects.

In 2019, the then Northern Army Commander Lt. General Ranbir Singh’s ALH had crash-landed while on a sortie from Udhampur to Poonch.

While the findings of the court of inquiry into the crash involving Lt Gen Singh have yet to be made public, sources in the defence establishment had told ThePrint earlier that the crash happened after the “collective” — which controls the power to the rotors and back — broke. This, sources pointed out, was a manufacturing defect.

Sources also attributed the tragic crash in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Siang district in October last year to this particular defect. Five Army personnel were killed in the crash.

Incidentally, after another crash involving an ALH in Kochi in March this year, the Navy issued a statement saying there was “sudden loss of power”.

There have been at least 20 (including the latest one) known incidents involving the ALH over the past two decades. The ALH is an essential fulcrum for the services — the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. 

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)


Also Read: War, payment issues impact military supplies to India from Russia & Ukraine. IAF worst hit


 

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