Hyderabad:
Was the Andhra Pradesh government responsible for former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's tragic death last year? The probe report now blames the crash on poor maintenance of the helicopter.
The Bell 430 (BT-APG) of the Andhra Pradesh government had crashed on September 2, 2009, killing the chief minister and four other people.
(YSR's chopper crash in pics)The report clearly indicates that the state government is in many ways responsible for the chopper crash. It says the Bell-430 helicopter was poorly maintained and was allowed to fly even when it was not airworthy. The report also blames the shockingly casual attitude of the maintenance staff.
The final civil aviation probe report, which is out now, says:
- The helicopter was poorly maintained and not airworthy.
- The Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation Limited did not maintain any snag register to allow an analysis of what went wrong. This is in violation of norms mentioned in civil aviation manual.
- The engine of the helicopter was removed on 1/11/2007 and re-installed on 30/05/2009 but no reason is given for this. This indicates the casual attitude of the maintenance personnel.
- The crew was aware of the poor weather conditions before departure but decided to ignore it.
- Just minutes before the crash, the crew got engrossed in tackling a technical snag and clearly overlooked appropriate procedure during emergency.