New Delhi: The Government's probe panel is set to investigate what went wrong in the chopper that crashed with Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy on board, but speculations persist.
The ill-fated Bell 430 helicopter took off at 0835 hrs on Tuesday and fuelled for the two hour flight to Chittoor. The aircraft was in contact with Begumpet Air Traffic Control till 0913 hrs after which it went silent.
Its last known position was 168 degrees, 90 km off Hyderabad, flying south.
Almost 24-hours later the wreckage was found, located 92 degrees east, which was a deviation of 18 km from its flight path.
Senior helicopter pilots say the pilot could have changed course to avoid bad weather. Low clouds could have obscured vision, leading to the chopper crashing into a hillock.
The Secretary General of Rotary Wing Society, Air Cmde BS Siwach said, "It can be bad weather. But that area is also infested with Maoists. It could have been an attack by Maoists too. It's not difficult to bring down a helicopter with ground fire.''
Sources in the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation, which owned the chopper, say the helicopter was a standby used just for training.
The new Augusta Westland was under maintainence.
Sources say the same Bell 430 had developed a mid-air snag while ferrying the Dalai Lama a few months ago. But the Government still maintains the aircraft was airworthy.
Aviation Minister Prafull Patel said, "Certainly, the helicopter was a good helicopter. Ten years old, if well maintained, it is a good chopper, twin engined. It was airworthy until the December of 2010."
The DGCA has started investigations into the crash. It will probe why the Emergency Locator Transmitter did not get triggered on impact. Much will be revealed when the cockpit voice recorder of the helicopter is opened.
Perhaps then it will be known as to why the chopper that was to land in Chitoor ended its journey in the dense forests of Nallamala.
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