Navy helicopter makes emergency landing on Alappuzha paddy field
A Chetak helicopter of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) today made a ‘safe precautionary landing’ at Muhamma in Alappuzha district after the pilots detected an onboard snag.
The helicopter took off from here at around 9.30 AM and after about 1 hour 15 minutes, the pilots observed an engine warning light, indicating low pressure, a defence spokesman said.
The pilots then searched for a safe, open landing field and carried out a “safe precautionary landing” on the outskirts of Alappuzha, to obviate any emergency, he said.
Lieutenants Balwinder and Kiran, piloting the helicopter were safe.
A technical team, which was sent to the site, found there was a false alarm due to faulty indication and rectified it. The helicopter later flew back to the naval station, he said.
The problem was rectified and the helicopter, with the tail number IN413, was flown back to the naval air station Garuda, from which it had taken off on a routine flying sortie in the morning.
The pilots had spotted the warning almost 1.15 hours into the flight, following which “they searched for a safe, open landing field.” Subsequently, they landed the helicopter near the Ponnad post office area, said a naval spokesperson.
