Maharashtra Governor’s helicopter forced into detour due to ‘hot’ weather

A 20-km detour was necessitated to avoid the hot local weather and the speed was cut to reduce the load on the engines, says pilot.

A helicopter ferrying Maharashtra Governor CV Rao was forced to take a detour due to ‘high temperatures’ in Nanded district, resulting in a ‘delay’ of 20 minutes, sending state officials into a tizzy on Friday afternoon.

A 20-km-long detour was necessitated to avoid the hot local weather and the speed was cut to reduce the load on the engines, said Captain Sanjay Karve. Four passengers, including the governor, were being ferried on the helicopter, flown by Captain Karve and Captain Mahendra Dalvi.

The governor was expected in Jawarla near Kinwat in Nanded district to attend a function as part of his ongoing tour of Nanded, Aurangabad and Dhule. “We were airborne at 11.10 am, but the temperature was 46 degree Celsius, something that was picked up on the helicopter radar, and we had to drop from maximum speed to the ‘turbulence’ speed, which is 60 per cent slower and this delayed us by 20 minutes,” said Captain Karve.

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Helicopters are lightweight and cannot penetrate unsuitable weather and we had to provide a wide berth of 20-25 nautical miles, he added, closer to the border with Telangana. “Moreover, after reaching Jawarla, we had to return to Nanded to refuel, instead of heading straight to Aurangabad as we would be short of the mandatory reserve fuel in case we faced further weather-related turbulence en route to Aurangabad,” he added.

The governor is currently in Aurangabad and is expected to return to Mumbai on Saturday.

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