Chopper lands in Nepal sans papers, Indian pilot ‘detained’

Sharma, sources said, flies for Global Vectra — a leading Indian private helicopter company — and the chopper belongs to the Eurocopter family. The pilot is still in Kathmandu.

On receiving the complaint from Nepal, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated an inquiry into how an Indian pilot was involved in a flight “unauthorised” by the Nepalese authorities. It’s learnt that showcause notices have been issued to the company, which interestingly owned the chopper but now claims to have sold it.

The DGCA, sources said, is contemplating serious action as the operator is said to have informed Indian authorities that it planned to fly to Kathmandu but did not do the same with authorities in Nepal. Global Vectra CMD S J S Saighal, however, tried to downplay the incident saying the problem was a “lack of paperwork” by the company’s local agent in Nepal. He then went on to claim that his company no longer owns the chopper. “The helicopter has been sold and the new owners will get it back,” he added, refusing to elaborate on the sale and the circumstances under which its pilot ended up flying a chopper that was no longer officially registered in India.

Initial inputs suggest that the chopper was registered in India until last month and then de-registered, indicating that a sale was under consideration. However, the details of the transaction and the purpose of the mysterious trip to Nepal have befuddled authorities who are trying to get to the bottom of the affair.

In Nepal, sources said, the authorities have also contacted their counterparts in the US Federal Aviation Administration to determine authenticity of the American registration of this helicopter. The entire episode may turn into an embarrassment for India which assiduously avoids courting any controversy given the tendency in Nepal’s political circles to impute motives behind any unexplained incident involving New Delhi.