Lapses caused Pawan Hans crash: Report

MUMBAI:A pilot disoriented by the altitude, poor communication between him and the co-pilot and a malfunctioning autopilot that hadn’t been set right although a test flight indicated a problem with the system caused the January 12, 2018 Pawan Hans helicopter crash that left seven people dead, a probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) has found.

Captain Ramesh Ohatkar, who went into spatial disorientation inability to interpret attitude – in poor visibility, did not allow the co-pilot VC Katoch to take control of the chopper, according to the AAIB report on the accident exclusively accessed by the Hindustan Times. This and the malfunctioning automatic flight control system – also called the autopilot – caused the accident, the report said.

The Dauphin SA365N3 helicopter operated by state-owned Pawan Hans Limited was flying towards an oil rig on Bombay High when it crashed into the Arabian sea around 30 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast. Both pilots and five officials of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) who were on the copter were killed.

AAIB’S findings were based on data from the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder – which were recovered from the crash site – that indicated poor interpersonal communication between the pilots.

Pawan Hans and ONGC did not respond to messages from HT for a comment on the findings of the accident investigation.

“The pilot in command did not allow the copilot to take control, leading the helicopter to crash with high velocity into the sea,” said the report.

Ohatkar, who had been taking breaks from work due to medical and personal reasons, had earlier been involved in another serious incident when he was co-pilot of a flight three years ago, Pawan Hans officials aware of it said. Instead of turning off the landing gear switch, the pilot by mistake switched off the emergency cutoff switch, resulting in total electrical power failure.

Commenting on the investigation, a senior Pawan Hans pilot claimed that despite being disoriented, Ohatkar may not have allowed the copilot to take control of the copter because the latter had not been cleared as an offshore captain. “Pawan Hans should have rostered a captain instead of a copilot with Capt. Ohatkar,” the pilot, who requested anonymity, added.

“It’s a tough but controllable situation. It’s on the two pilots to manage and control the situation to make a safe landing. In this case. However, lack of CRM and coordination between the pilots led to the crash,” a former pilot and an aviation expert said. Crew resource management (CRM) refers to the rostering of a team best suited for flight safety.