HAL Dhruv - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• In November 2005, a Dhruv a crash-landed in Andhra Pradesh, causing the entire fleet to be grounded; the subsequent probe found a fault with the helicopter's tail rotor blades, which has since been corrected.

• On 2 February 2007, during rehearsals prior to Aero India, a HAL Dhruv of the Sarang helicopter display team of the Indian Air Force crashed, killing co-pilot Squadron Leader Priye Sharma and wounding the pilot Wing Commander Vikas Jetley; Vikas Jetley died in January 2011 after being in a coma for over 3 years. It was concluded that the accident was caused by pilot error. The helicopter team continued to perform in the air show.

• In October 2009, a Dhruv helicopter of the Ecuadorian Air Force flew into terrain while attempting to fly in formation with two other helicopters close to an air force base near Quito. Air Force General Leonardo Barreiro told reporters that the helicopter had been destroyed in the crash. The remaining six aircraft were grounded during the investigation, which later concluded pilot error to be the cause.

• In February 2010, a Dhruv helicopter team of the Indian Air Force was forced to make a crash landing while rehearsing for the "Vayu Shakti" air power show. An IAF official was quoted as stating "Both pilots are safe after they had to make a controlled crash-landing due to loss of power in the chopper".

• On 21 April 2011, four army personnel were killed in a Dhruv helicopter crash in north Sikkim.

• On 19 October 2011, a Dhruv operated by India's Border Security Force (BSF) crashed in north-east India, resulting in the deaths of the three crew on board. Immediately following the crash, the remaining five Dhruvs of the CRPF were grounded.

• On 15 January 2012, a Border Security Force Dhruv crashed onto the runway at Raipur airport. The helicopter was engaged in a series of test flights when the crash occurred, there were no deaths but all five of the crew onboard were injured.