RIP: Nine dead as IAF helicopters collide mid-air

Its a big tragedy for the Indian Air Force (IAF) as it lost nine lives when two of its helicopters on routine training sortie went down near Jamnagar airbase, Gujarat. The accident is being termed as the first mid-air collision of two helicopters for the force. 

The two Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters took off from the air base at 12 pm and it crashed five minutes later near Sarmat range, eight kms from the airbase.

File photo-Mi-17

According to sources, “The two helicopters were flying in close formation as required by the mission objectives. They were to conduct firing practice at the range.”

Nine people on board – including two pilots, co-pilots and crew member perished. “The pilots were senior officers belonging to the TACDE (Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment. Three Wing Commanders, one Squadron Leader, one Flying Officer and four other ranks were onboard the ill-fated helicopter,” sources added. 

Prima facie it seems to be a mid-air collision but the exact reasons behind the crash cannot be zeroed in before a court of inquiry. After collision one of the helicopters is said to have caught fire. “Immediately following the crash, a helicopter was rushed to the site to evacuate survivors. Only three people could be evacuated but nobody survived the tragedy,” sources added.

The pilots, from the Gwalior airbase in Madhya Pradesh, had come to the Jamnagar airbase as part of training. “There can be 100 reasons behind the collision. It could be a technical malfunction, air drift, vibrations or human error. In formations the helicopters do fly close, during display some machines fly even as close as 10 metres from each other,” a military aviator said.

The tragedy has sent shockwaves across the organization that faced slew of crashes in 2011 and beginning 2012. This is the fourth air crash for the IAF this year. Earlier in the year, two Mirage fighter jets and one Kiran trainer aircraft had nosedived. In one of the Mirage crashes, a top ranking IAF official had a close shave.

In 2010 an IAF MI-17 helicopter had crashed at Bomdir near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, killing all 12 defence personnel on board. The victims included an Army official of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and 11 IAF personnel, including two pilots. In another air tragedy of this scale in 2009, 13 people had perished in 2009 when the IAF’s workhorse An-32 crashed in heavily forested Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh.