Irrigation minister, Fadnavis’S PA and cook too were onboard

This is the third such incident involving the chief minister this year.

MOMENTS after it took off, a helicopter carrying Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a cabinet minister and two others had to make a forced landing in Nashik on Saturday morning, reportedly due to overloading of the chopper.

As per local BJP workers who were on the spot, the incident took place around 9.30 am when the helicopter — carrying Fadnavis, state Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan, the CM’s personal assistant and his cook — took off for Aurangabad from Nashik’s Police Parade Ground.

“The helicopter could barely ascend 50 feet after take-off … it remained air-borne for a few seconds and then landed on the ground again. Apparently, there was an overload,” said Laxman Savji, a BJP leader who was present at the spot.

He said the five-seater aircraft could have been overloaded as it was also carrying a considerable amount of luggage. A video recorded by an eyewitness showed the helicopter struggling during take-off, managing to stabilise, and gradually descending to the ground.

After the incident, the cook and a few bags were offloaded, and the chief minister, his assistant and Mahajan left for Aurangabad in the same chopper.
According to BJP members, since Fadnavis is on a prolonged tour, the chopper was loaded with a lot of luggage, which belonged to the chief minister as well as his aides.

This is the third such incident involving the chief minister this year.

On July 7, before taking off in a helicopter from Alibaug, Fadnavis narrowly missed being struck by the chopper’s tail rotor, when the pilot started the engines before the chief minister could board the aircraft.

Security guards accompanying Fadnavis had pushed him out of harm’s way.

On May 25, the rotor of a helicopter carrying Fadnavis got entangled in power lines, and the chopper crash-landed during take-off from Nilanga in Latur district.