Two pilots, flight engineer killed as chopper flying to Mumbai crashes in Pune

The incident took place around 7 am on Wednesday when the Augusta 109 VT-EVV helicopter operated by New Delhi-headquartered Heritage Aviation took off from the helipad of the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune. Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Vinoykumar Choubey said, “Three persons have unfortunately died in the crash. The chopper was on its way to Juhu from Oxford Golf Course resort. Our teams responded after receiving the call.”

Helicopter crash site in Bhavdan where 3 people lost their lives on Wednesday morning. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)

The deceased pilots have been identified as Wing Commander Girish Kumar Pillai (retd), 57, and Wing Commander Paramjeet Singh (retd), 62, and flight engineer Pritamchand Bharadwaj, 53. Inspector Rushikesh Ghadge of Hinjewadi police station said, “Pillai and Singh had retired from the IAF as Wing Commanders. Bharadwaj had retired from the Indian Navy in 2002. Bharadwaj hailed from Bilaspur district in Himachal Pradesh and currently lived at Kharghar in Mumbai. Pillai hailed from Kerala and presently resided in Hyderabad. Singh hailed from Dwarka area of Delhi.”

Senior inspector Kanhaiyya Thorat said, “The families of the deceased persons have been informed. We have performed a panchnama of the crash site. The DGCA team has begun its investigation. We have cordoned the area.”

Tatkare was supposed to fly in the chopper to his residence in Sutarwadi, Raigad, from Mumbai. “The chopper was slated to come to Mumbai and take me to my residence in Raigad district,” Tatkare told The Indian Express. Tatkare had used the chopper to go to Beed on Tuesday where he attended the Jansaman rally of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

A police officer that reached the spot first said, “The locals told us that there was dense fog when the crash took place.” DCP Vishal Gaikwad of with Pimpri Chinchwad police said, “Upon reaching the spot, we found out that there were three casualties in the crash and resultant fire. The deceased include two pilots and a flight engineer. We informed the authorities at the DGCA and cordoned off the area.”

Devendra Potphode, chief of Pune Fire Brigade, said, “The Fire Brigade control room received a call from the police authorities about the crash. We deployed fire tenders and rescue vehicles from nearby fire stations. While reaching the crash site our teams could see fire and smoke coming from the crash site. By the time we reached, the fire had subsided. The parts of the crashed helicopter were scattered on the site. We recovered three deceased persons from the site.”

Autopsies were performed on the three at the Sassoon General Hospital. The initial findings of the autopsies showed head injuries and multiple fractures. Pillai and Singh had superficial burns, Sassoon authorities said.

On August 24, a privately operated helicopter crashed near a village in Paud area of Pune. The helicopter had taken off from Juhu in Mumbai and was headed towards Hyderabad. In that crash the pilot had sustained minor injuries while the passengers were unhurt.