'Sarang participation in Aero-India soon'
New Delhi, Feb 4: Chief of Air Staff-designate Air Marshal F H Major today said a decision on the participation of the IAF's 'Sarang' aerobatic display team in the coming Aero-India '07 will be taken soon, in view of tragic accident of the Dhruv helicopter at Bangalore last Friday.
''There are still two to three days... the crash is being investigated,'' he said, in his first media interaction after his appointment was announced, on the sidelines of the International Seminar on 'Aerospace Power in Tomorrow's World.' Answering a question on whether the indigenously-built 'Dhruv' Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) should be grounded, as it had been done after in November 2005, when a civil variant of Dhruv, ordered by the Jharkhand Government, force-landed in Hyderabad following a defect in the tail rotor, he said this had been done because the cause of the problem had been detected.
''The grounding in November 2005 followed detection of the problem and for its rectification,'' Air Marshal Major -- an ace helicopter pilot and the first from this wing to become the IAF chief -- said, adding that it all depended on the findings of the enquiry team.
In a tragic prelude to Aero India 2007, beginning next Wednesday, a Dhruv helicopter of the Sarang aerobatic display team crashed at the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force on Friday, killing a pilot and seriously injuring another.
IAF sources In Bangalore said the helicopter was in practice session for the aerial display when the accident occurred around 0915 hrs. The helicopter was moving to the far end of the runway in preparation of a cross-over display, in which two copters fly in from opposite directions. According to initial reports, the crash was due to the chopper losing height.
Both the pilots were immediately rushed to the hospital. While co-pilot Sqn Ldr Priye Sharma of Patna succumbed to injuries at the hospital, the condition of pilot Wg Cdr V Jaitley of Delhi, who sustained head injuries, was stated to be serious, the sources said.
A court of inquiry was ordered into the accident.
UNI