The Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash on December 8, 2021, that caused the death of India's first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat was caused by "human error," a parliamentary panel report said.
Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and a few other armed forces personnel had died after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Standing Committee on Defence shared the data on the number of Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft crashes that happened during the 13th Defence Plan period.
According to the report, there were 34 such crashes, including nine IAF aircraft accidents that took place in 2021-22 and 11 in 2018-19.
The tabulated data in the report had a column titled "reason" which noted the cause of accidents in this period, against the aircraft type and date and accident.
The data for the 33rd accident listed in the report mentioned the aircraft as "Mi-17", date "08.12.2021" and the reason cited was "HE(A)" or "human error (aircrew)".
The defence ministry informed the Committee that 34 inquiries were conducted into these accidents during the period. "The ministry also informed that the recommendations by these inquiry committees review the process, procedure, training, equipment, culture, operations, maintenance and administration holistically with intent to prevent recurrence of an accident," the report said.
The ministry further informed that "all remedial measures stipulated by Chief of the Air Staff remarks are binding and actioned".
"Most have been actioned while a few are under implementation," it added.
In 2022, a statement by the IAF said the court of inquiry into the accident ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as the cause. "The accident was a result of entry into clouds due to unexpected change in weather conditions in the valley. This led to spatial disorientation of the pilot resulting in Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT)," the IAF statement read.
The IAF said that the inquiry team analysed flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder besides questioning all available witnesses to determine the most probable cause of the accident.
"Based on its (preliminary) findings, the court of inquiry has made certain recommendations which are being reviewed," the IAF had noted.
