NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force has confirmed that the helicopter crash which claimed the life of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 11 others was caused by a “human error”.
According to a standing committee on defence report tabled in Lok Sabha, 34 aircraft accidents were recorded during the thirteenth defence plan period. Human error (aircrew) (HE(A)) was identified as the most frequent cause, responsible for 16 accidents, including the Mi-17 V5 helicopter that was carrying General Bipin Rawat when it crashed.
Other factors included technical defect with seven cases, foreign object damage and human error (servicing) with two cases each, and bird strike and under investigation, each cited once.
The IAF’s MiG-21 aircraft was involved in 10 of the recorded accidents, making it the most frequent on the list, followed by aircraft such as the Jaguar and Kiran.
The tragic crash that led to CDS Rawat’s death occurred on December 8, 2021, in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor region. General Rawat, his wife, and 11 others were aboard an IAF Mi-17 V5 helicopter en route to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in Wellington, where he was scheduled to address faculty and students. The helicopter departed from Sulur IAF station around 11:50 am but crashed at approximately 12:20 pm, just 10 kilometers away from its destination.
Eyewitness accounts and official sources reported that the helicopter was flying at a low altitude in dense fog when it collided with a valley and fell through trees. The crash site was engulfed in flames by the time it hit the ground, leading to the deaths of 13 of the 14 people on board. Group Captain Varun Singh was the sole survivor of the crash.
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