Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 2: The investigation into last month’s helicopter disaster in Tamil Nadu, which killed the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, and 13 others, is nearing completion, with the final report due to the Air Force Chief in this month, according to military officials.
The Air Force has yet to issue an official statement on the investigation’s results. According to sources, the most likely reason of the accident is what is known as Controlled Flight into Terrain (CIFT), which the Air Force officials claimed will be revealed in the final study.
The tri-services court of inquiry is headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, who is the country’s top helicopter pilot in the armed forces. The Court of Inquiry was commissioned by Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari. Before submission, the findings will be legally vetted to ensure that all protocols were followed in the probe.
The helicopter’s black box was retrieved soon after the incident, and the investigation involved examining the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).
Notably, the army chopper crash in Coonoor on December 8, killed the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others. On December 9, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had informed Parliament that the helicopter had taken off from the Sulur Air Base at 11.48 am and was expected to land at Wellington by 12.15 pm.
The Air Traffic Control at Sulur Air Base lost contact with the helicopter at approximately 12.08 pm.
