Why pilot deviated from flight plan

YSR's helicopter was spotted exactly 24 hours after it went missing with the Chief Minister and four others on board.

It was spotted by the Air Force choppers at 8.30 am on Thursday morning on top of a hill. It had clearly deviated from its flight path.

The pilot was flying South towards Chittoor, but he changed direction eastwards after crossing Kurnool, towards Atmakur.

The new route was presumably taken to avoid bad weather. It was raining heavily in this part of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. But the change in route could have been the fatal mistake as Atmakaru, where the pilot veered, is a hilly area. Details are still awaited, but indications are that in low visibility, the pilot could have hit the hill.

The chopper was found completely mangled, the only part intact was the tailpiece. Rescue choppers couldn't land here. Commandoes had to slide down ropes. Their first-hand accounts established that initially, only three of the five bodies were found by them.

The impact of the crash was so strong that two bodies were thrown away from the wreckage. The Home Minister confirmed that all five bodies were found charred.

A parliamentary panel will examine whether the chopper should have been flying at all. For now, these are the big unanswered questions -- Why did the chopper's Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) not send distress signals to satellites? Why was the pilot flying so low in hilly terrain? Moreover, why didn't he abort his flight despite a weather radar onboard?

Flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorder will be analysed in Delhi by experts.