Indian Navy's Chetak copter makes hard landing, 4 crew hurt

On Thursday morning, the Indian Navy's Chetak helicopter made a hard landing at a village next to Uran near Mumbai, injuring four navy personnel

A statement of the Ministry of Defence reads: “A Chetak helicopter of the Indian Navy, whilst on a routine training sortie off Mumbai, made a hard landing at Uran, across the harbour, at about 1015 hours.”

In aviation parlance, hard landing refers to a rapid descent of the aircraft when it reaches the ground, wherein there is a possibility of the aircraft getting damaged, as well as the crew sustaining injuries. The usual landings have a very slow vertical speed to land the helicopter.

All four navy personnel on board – two pilots and two aircrew – sustained minor injuries and have been rescued from the site.

As per available details, the chopper developed a technical snag during a routine sortie. Upon realising the glitch, the pilots chose an open ground for emergency landing, wherein they had to hard land, thereby resulting in a crash.

In order to save themselves, the crew immediately jumped out. While the helicopter is beyond repair, the crew is receiving treatment at Indian Naval Hospital Ship Asvini in Navy Nagar (Colaba).

“There has been no damage to civil property,” informed a spokesperson. A board of enquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Owing to its reliability, the fleet of Chetak copters are also known as the workhorse of the armed forces. However, seeing as the fleet is ageing, there are plans to replace them with Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv.