Again, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis's helicopter forced to land due to overloading

A helicopter carrying Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis force-landed soon after take-off from Nashik on Saturday as it was "overloaded".

Nashik: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yet again faced a force-landed of his helicopter on Saturday. Officials said his chopper was "overloaded". The incident occurred at around 9.30 am, when Fadnavis, accompanied by Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan and others was travelling from Nashik to Aurangabad.

"As it took off from an open ground, the helicopter could barely ascend 50 feet or so and couldn`t fly further, compelling the pilot to land safely a few metres away," Bari said.

The chopper was seen struggling during the takeoff, its main rotor unable to lift and thrust it forward, but finally it stabilised and made a slow descent on the ground.

The chopper reportedly could not fly with the extra weight, so Fadnavis` cook and his bag were off-loaded before it took off again after some time.

While the CM and his entourage reached Aurangabad in 25 minutes, his cook and his bag had to take the road and reached after three hours.

"At the time of take-off, it was felt that for safety reasons they should carry three, so they landed again and requested the same. Accordingly, one person (the cook) was offloaded," the officials explained.

Seeking to downplay the incident, they added that the chopper took off safely, it was a routine practice and not a major issue since Fadnavis travelled by the same aircraft.

In the past, there have been at least three incidents involving Fadnavis. 

On July 7, before take-off in a helicopter from Alibaug near Mumbai, Fadnavis narrowly missed being struck by the chopper's tail rotor when the pilot inexplicably started the engines before the chief minister had boarded. Security guards accompanying Fadnavis had then pushed him out of harm's way.

On May 25, the rotor of a helicopter carrying Fadnavis tangled with power lines and it crash-landed during take-off from Nilanga in Latur district.

On May 10, a helicopter assigned to ferry Fadnavis to Nagpur crashed before reaching the pick-up location in Gadchiroli. 

The incident reminds of aerial tragedies in the past in which several Indian politicians have been killed. Some of those included Sanjay Gandhi, Madhavrao Scindia, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, GMC Balayogi, S Mohan Kumaramangalam, OP Jindal, Surendra Singh, Dera Natung and C Sangma.