YSR air crash probe panel seeks extension

New Delhi/Hyderabad, Dec 23: The enquiry committee headed by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited Chairman R K Tyagi, has sought a Civil Aviation Ministry permission to extend the deadline as the committee is yet to receive the full transcript of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).A four-member committee constituted to look into the September 2 Bell-420 crash causing the death of Chief Minister Dr Ys Rajasekhar Reddy and four others in the Nallamala forests has requested for a second extension to file its reports up  to January 15, 2010.Earlier the probe panel was scheduled to submit its report by the first week of November.

However, its term was extended to the second week of December.The cockpit voice recorder sent by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to a United States agency for decoding, has certain gaps, and was sent back, said a senior official. The gaps refer to the local language used by the chopper occupants.‘‘Since the CVR was sent to the US agency, they could not decipher the local language,’’ said another official, associated with the investigating team. CVR helps reveal the communication between the pilots and the control tower and pilots that can give vital leads in establishing what could have led to the accident.When contacted, Tyagi refused to comment.

Meanwhile,  Rotary Wings Society of India (RWSI), which also conducts parallel probe into air crashes, has not ruled out the possibility of a technical failure being responsible for the mishap. It also blamed the state government for not providing suitable aviation infrastructure for helicopter operations.The DGCA has decided to seek requisite software and hardware for downloading, decoding, playing and analysing flight recorders installed on Indian aircraft. The Civil Aviation Ministry has not given its nod for the extension, but according to sources, it is likely to come through in a few days.