A panel probing the fatal crash of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's chopper has reported that Mr. Reddy did not interfere with in the flight's path or progression. The Tyagi panel blamed the crew for wasting vital minutes before the crash.
The helicopter, which crashed last September claiming the life of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and four other persons, was “probably not airworthy” but this was not a contributing factor to the accident, an inquiry has found.
The probe panel, headed by Pawan Hans chief R. K. Tyagi, also established that there was “no evidence” to indicate any interference in the flight operations by the VIP on board.
The primary cause of the crash of the Bell-403 chopper on September 2 last year was the error of the crew, which after noticing a fault in the oil transmission pressure “was engrossed for vital six minutes before the impact in searching for the relevant checklist from the Flight Manual“.
The report pointed out that the number one engine of the chopper had experienced two technical problems on earlier flights which required maintenance action before the helicopter was released for the next flight.
The maintenance engineers and the flight crew “ignored this advisory before operating the flight on September two.”
But both the engines operated normally and remained capable of producing the required power till the time of the crash, the enquiry committee found.
“Thus the helicopter was probably not airworthy when it was released for flight on September 2, even though it was not a contributory factor to the accident,” the report said.
The Chief Minister, his special secretary P Subramaniam, Chief Security Officer ASC Weseley and pilots Grp Capt S. K. Bhatia and Capt M. S. Reddy, were killed when the Bell 430 crashed in the dense jungles of Nalamalla hills.
The report said “The Committee in the present case could not find any evidence/indication wherein (the) VIP interfered/influenced the flight planning/progression.”
It recommended conducting of suitable short-term courses for pilots structured to cater to the needs of VIP helicopter operations.
The committee also ruled out any bomb threat or fire on board the helicopter before the crash.
Regarding the weather on route, the enquiry panel said the crew was aware of the poor weather conditions but “continued to proceed ahead in spite of inclement weather which was continuously aggravating and becoming more and more difficult to negotiate.”
It said the Co-Pilot “also did not advise the Pilot-in -Command (PIC) to return or divert to the nearest location” and blamed the PIC as well as the supervisory staff of the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation Limited (APACL) for “lack of knowledge or disregard of the rules”.
During the final 14 seconds before the crash, the Co-Pilot repeatedly called out ‘Go Around’ thereby indicating that some problem like the close vicinity of the hill feature. “In spite of the co-pilot’s ‘Go Around’ call, the PIC could not act apparently due to incapacitation,” it said.
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