Uttarkashi helicopter crash: Chopper hit overhead cable while trying to land, says report

The helicopter that crashed in Uttarkhand’s Uttarkashi district on May 8 struck an overhead fibre cable with its main rotor blade while attempting to land, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said on Saturday, The New Indian Express reported.

In its preliminary report, the division of the Ministry of Civil Aviation that investigates such accidents said that the “aircraft failed to land and subsequently tumbled down the hillside, eventually coming to rest against a tree roughly 250 feet into a gorge”.

Six persons, including the pilot, were killed and one injured after the helicopter crashed near Gangnani in Uttarkashi on May 8. The helicopter, belonging to AeroTrans Services Private Limited, had taken off from a helipad in Dehradun and was heading to the Gangotri Dham of the Char Dham Yatra circuit.

The circuit is a Hindu pilgrimage to the four shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, all of which are in Uttarakhand.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, in its report, said that the helicopter lifted off from the Kharsali airpad at 8.11 am and the accident happened at 8.35 am in Gangnani, PTI reported. The helicopter was destroyed in the crash, but there was no fire, it added.

The helicopter flew for 20 minutes before descending from its assigned altitude, the report said.

“Initially, the pilot attempted to land on...

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