An Indian Coast Guard Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed into the Arabian Sea while performing an emergency evacuation on September 2, 2024.
The helicopter, carrying four Coast Guard members, was attempting to evacuate an injured crew member from the tanker Hari Leela, in the Indian State of Gujarat, located 30 miles off the coast of Porbandar.
During the procedure, the helicopter was forced to ditch into the Arabian Sea, where it eventually sank after a hard landing.
When the helicopter went missing, the Indian Coast Guard deployed four ships and two aircraft for its search.
One crew member was rescued, while two bodies, including the pilot’s, were recovered from inside the helicopter. Search for the fourth crew member is still ongoing.
The cause of the crash is still unknown. The Indian-made AHL, or HAL Dhruv, is a utility, twin-engine helicopter designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics.
According to a 2023 report by The Hindustan Times, the ALH was involved in 12 accidents from 2018-2023. The Indian Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard currently operate more than 330 ALHs.
2 comments
The pitot tube issue goes on and on and on: you’d think we were cavemen the way the tubes are managed!
Can no-one think of a way of at least having a cockpit warning?
Superb work by the refueler at an adjacent gate to pick up this problem. It is interesting that none of the people (not just the LAME and AME) involved in the handling of the flight in question saw what was developing, yet an uninvolved person some distance away did.
In my opinion the report fails to investigate the refueler’s role in more detail. What was it about their training, experience, observational skills or whatever that led him to (i) be looking at a departing aircraft with a critical eye (ii) understand the ramifications, (iii) execute on the concern. Bottom line: he was *paying attention*. Maybe he should be teaching this stuff.