CDS Bipin Rawat’s Fatal Chopper Crash Caused By Human Error: Panel Report

New Delhi: The helicopter crash that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat three years ago was the result of a ‘human error’.

General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others died after an Mi-17 V5 helicopter crashed in the mountains near Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor on December 8, 2021.

Just over three years later, a Standing Committee on Defence report, tabled in Lok Sabha two days ago, stated that the Mi-17 crash occurred because of ‘Human Error (Aircrew)’.

The Standing Committee report of the 18th Lok Sabha stated that during the Thirteenth Defence Period Plan’, from Financial Years 2017 to 2022, a total of 34 IAF accidents took place. During FY 2021-2022, nine accidents took place and the one on December 8, 2021, was because of ‘Human Error (Aircrew)’.

In its preliminary findings, after analysing Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder besides questioning all available witnesses to determine the most probable cause of the accident, the inquiry team had said: “The accident was a result of entry into clouds due to an unexpected change in weather conditions in the valley. This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT).”

On that fateful December day in 2021, the chopper took off from Sulur Air Force base in Coimbatore for the Defence Staff Services Colleges in Wellington, before crashing into the hills minutes before landing.