Monday, October 15, 2012

Navy chopper crash leaves 3 dead

The nearly half-a-century-old Chetak helicopter of the Indian Navy crashed on Monday at Dabolim naval base in Goa, killing three personnel on board.
File Photo of Chetak helicopter
Prima facie the accident is attributed to technical reasons. The crash took place at 10 am in the morning when the rotary wing aircraft nosedived during landing. Sources indicate that one of the rotor blades of the helicopter broke while landing and the machine caught fire and crashed on the runway. 

“A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the causes behind it,” a navy spokesperson said in Delhi. The helicopter was flying from Mumbai to Bangalore and had a refueling halt at Hansa Naval Air base.
(Update:
The French-built single-engine Chetak or Alouettes helicopter was first inducted in the Navy in 1961 and since then it has been in service with the force. The Navy has been long looking for its replacements. In August the Navy had floated a tender to procure 56 utility helicopters under a $1 billion deal. The Request for Proposal has been sent to many companies including Boeing, Sikorsky, Bell Helicopters, Eurocopter, Finmeccanica, Augusta Westland, Kamov and Rosoboronexport among others. 

The replacement is expected to be equipped for anti-submarine warfare role and with night capability radars. The outdated Chetak helicopters do not have night operations or fighting capability. As against the Chetak, the new acquired helicopters are required to be twin engine. 
 
The Indian Navy presently operates 100 helicopters and most of them ageing. It has indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) Dhruv, Westland SeaKing, Sikorsky SeaKing, Chetaks, and Kamov's Ka-25, Ka-28 and Ka-31 helicopters.

No comments:

Post a Comment