Army chopper crashes in Siachen, pilot dead

A Cheetah helicopter belonging to Army crashed in the Siachen Glacier region on Wednesday killing a pilot.

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: A Cheetah helicopter belonging to Army crashed in the Siachen Glacier region on Wednesday killing a pilot.

The co-pilot of the chopper however survived in the incident.

The incident took place when the helicopter was returning after unloading supplies at the Bheem post on the Northern Glacier.

The helicopter crashed within minutes it took off from the post.
The Cheetah, bought from France, was inducted into the Army 40 years ago, in 1971.

These helicopters are used by the Army for training. The cause of the crash is not known at this point of time.

There are about 120 Cheetahs in service right now and most of these helicopters have been stretched beyond their lives.
The airframe life of the light-utility helicopter is about 4,500 hours, but most of the Cheetahs that the Army has have logged over 6,000 flying hours. The engine life of the chopper is 1750 hours and most have gone past that too.

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