Maharashtra CM’s chopper forced to land after take-off

Mumbai: A helicopter ferrying Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to Aurangabad on Saturday was forced to land immediately after taking off from Nashik, apparently due to overloading. This is the fourth such incident related to the CM's chopper, with the CM having a narrow escape in the earlier three.

In the latest occurrence, the private chopper took off successfully after offloading one of the passengers and some luggage, the police said. Although the police did not specify the reasons for the chopper making a forced landing, an aviation expert said that offloading of a passenger and some luggage could be linked to maximum load carrying capacity of the helicopter.

An official from the state civil aviation department said, “As the helicopter was unable to get the required altitude to fly, some luggage was also offloaded. This is not a major issue. The CM flew in the same chopper and attended all events in Aurangabad as per schedule."

In May, the Bel 230 private helicopter ferrying the CM encountered a technical snag where one of its engines failed to start at Gadchiroli.

In another incident also in May, the CM’s helicopter crash-landed at Nilanga in Latur district after it suffered a snag. Luckily, he escaped unhurt. On July 7 before take-off in a helicopter from Alibaug near Mumbai, the CM narrowly missed being struck by the chopper's tail rotor when the pilot inexplicably started the engines before the CM had boarded.

After these incidents, the state government decided to buy two new helicopters; one for the CM and the other for Naxal-infested Gadchiroli.