Mi-17 chopper of IAF with 6 personnel on board makes emergency landing

Sikkim, May 7: Following the bad weather here, a Mi-17 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) made a forced landing that was on a routine air maintenance sortie from Chaten to Mukutang on Thursday.

 

 

The chopper was carrying six personnel who are safe however one sustained an injury in the incident. “It was on routine air maintenance sortie from Chaten to Mukutang in Sikkim today. All six personnel on board are safe, one person has been injured.

 

"The helicopter got airborne at 6.45 a.m. and en route, the helicopter force landed 10 NM short of designated helipad due to bad weather,” the IAF said.

 

Two recovery helicopters and an Army ground search party had been launched for rescue and were yet to reach the site. An investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.

 

Earlier, on April 16, due to a technical snag, the Cheetah, an Indian Air Force helicopter on Thursday had to make an emergency landing on the Outer Ring Road, however, the aircraft was back in action after the glitch was rectified.

 

On 17 April, an IAF aircraft experienced a tire deflation just before take-off at Delhi's Palam airbase. The Dornier aircraft was planned to undertake routine flight from the Palam Air Base. "During the takeoff roll, aircraft experienced a tire deflation. The captain of the aircraft took prompt and correct actions of aborting the takeoff," IAF had said.

 

Even the IAF Apache helicopter made an emergency landing on a field in Punjab's Hoshiarpur. The helicopter took off from the Pathankot base earlier, but due to some technical glitch, it landed in the Budhwar village fields.