‘Jinxed’ copter lands in museum for lack of takers

JAIPUR: The Augusta-Westland helicopter purchased in the Vasundhara Raje-government’s first tenure (2003-2008) is being sent to museum, as there are no takers for the chopper, according to official sources.
The twin-engine A109E power helicopter is grounded since 2011, following a technical glitch that developed during a flight when the then CM Ashok Gehlot was on board. The VIPs fear using the helicopter, as it developed technical snags twice, with chief ministers on board, forcing emergency landing. Ever since, no VVIP has mustered the courage to fly in the helicopter, which has been lying idle, at the state hangar at Sanganer airport.

Kesari Singh, Director State Civil Aviation, told TOI, “The government had explored all options to sell-off the helicopter but there are no takers. So, the government is considering to give it to a state flying academy for display.”

The chopper, an Augusta 190-E, was purchased by Raje government at a cost of Rs 20.01 crore in 2005 during her first term. The deal had received scathing criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in its report in 2008. The CAG had reported that the state government incurred a loss of about Rs 1.14 crore in the purchase of the helicopter due to procedural lapses. But no enquiry was conducted.

Interestingly, when the chopper was purchased, there was no trained pilot available in the country for flying it. The chopper had remained unused for the first two years.

When it started flying, the helicopter developed technical snags twice, with chief ministers on board. First, chief minister Vasundhara Raje had a close shave on a flight to Nashik on April 27, 2008. The pilot had to make an emergency landing as he experienced vibrations in the engines soon after taking off from Ujjain and decided to land at the nearest available spot. The CM’s helicopter had then made an emergency landing at Omkaleshwar near Nashik in Maharashtra.

Later, the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot also had his moment of scare while on board the chopper, on way to Churu on November 20, 2011. The twin-engined Italian-made Augusta 190-E helicopter was flying to Nangalbadi village, 60km from Chandkoti, where Gehlot was slated to attend two functions, when the trouble arose.

As there were vibrations, the pilot realised that one of the rotor blades was not functioning smoothly and decided to make an emergency landing in a field at Chandpur, about 10km from Pilani. After that, the chopper was taken off duty for VIP movements.