Mulayam Singh Yadav has a narrow escape as crash is averted

Etawah (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 14 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had a narrow escape as his small plane breezed past a cyclist on the runway while landing in Etawah.

Yadav was being flown in a chartered aircraft from New Delhi to Etawah.

A number of near mishaps have recurred at airports across the country despite flight safety, particularly that related to VIPs, assuming prime concern since former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in September last year.

In December the rotor blades of an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17 helicopter carrying President Pratibha Patil hit a shed after landing at the airport in eastern Bhubaneswar.

Earlier in February 2009 an IAF chopper-carrying Patil landed on the runway even as an Indian Airlines was about to take off.

Also in December a controversy brew when Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi denied reports that he forced the helicopter pilots to land in poor visibility conditions at dusk in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district. (ANI)