A Coast Guard Chetak helicopter damaged its undercarriage while performing forced-landing after an aborted take-off at the Naval Air Station INS Garuda here on Tuesday.
The helicopter, which had taken off on a routine training sortie around 10 a.m., was transiting into forward flight when it had to attempt forced-landing to avoid a bird hit. “The asymmetric landing that followed caused damage to the helicopter’s undercarriage. But the incident caused no loss of life or property,” said sources.
The two pilots of the helicopter and an aircrew diver on board at the time of the mishap had a narrow escape. The helicopter was cleared from the runway for repairs and normal flight operations continued from the naval airfield.
