Hyderabad, September 09: Flying over dense forests and worst weather conditions was nothing new to late Group Captain Sunil Kumar Bhatia.
For 12 years, Bhatia flew choppers only in the hilly terrains in Arunachal Pradesh, prone to sudden and drastic changes in weather conditions.
Moreover, investigations by the Directorate- General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) hint that poor maintenance of the ill-fated Bell-430 helicopter, not human error, could have led to its crash in the dense Nallamala forests.
On the other hand, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is contemplating an inquiry into the alleged harassment meted out to Bhatia after he tried to expose corruption within the AP Aviation Corporation.
“A few days before this tragedy, Bhatia had told us that he would be meeting the Commanding Officer (CO) of the IAF based in Hyderabad to discuss the matter. They (IAF) will make their own inquiries as Bhatia was an IAF officer of 1984 batch,” according to IAF sources.
Sources associated with the probe into the chopper crash disclosed to Express that so far there had been no indication that it could be a human error.
Bhatia had a track record of flying choppers in much worse conditions for 12 years in Arunachal Pradesh, they said.
“We learnt that the pilot (Bhatia) was flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules) which means that the chopper was below 5,500 feet. All pilots who fly choppers normally fly VFR. Only the best and stateof- the-art helicopters fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) which means that they climb above 8,000 feet,” the sources said adding this only indicated that the chopper was not in the best of condition and perhaps there could be some technical problem associated with ‘real bad weather’.
They said though Bhatia had insisted and delayed the departure by an hour after getting the Met briefing, he took off only when the sky over Hyderabad was clear. He also ensured that there was clear weather at the destination (Chittoor).
“We are probing whether all the parts of the chopper were in good condition.
Whether the Bell-430 was fit enough to fly in such weather conditions will be known in the next few days. Perhaps, had they flown in the latest Augusta Westland (acquired by the Andhra Pradesh Government for the Chief Minister’s use last year) the tragedy would have been averted. Augusta is a state-ofthe- art chopper which can be flown in bad weather conditions even during night,” they said. However, reaching Chittoor by a commercial flight would have been the best option, they felt.
The IAF might probe into the alleged harassment meted out to Bhatia by the AP Aviation Corporation officials, according to sources. “A few days before this tragedy, Bhatia had told us that he would be meeting the Commanding Officer (CO) of the IAF based in Hyderabad to discuss the matter. They (IAF) will make their own inquiries as Bhatia was an IAF officer of 1984 batch,” the sources added.
-Agencies