NEW DELHI“Spatial disorientation”of the Mi-17 V5 aviators after entry into a pall cover due to unforeseen bad rainfall led to the copter crash that killed chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, his woman and 12 others last month, the IAF said on Friday Thetri-Service court of inquiry, headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, has” ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as a cause of the accident”of the binary- machine Mi-17 V5 eggbeater near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8. Making the first formal statement about the crash, which verified what TOI had reported before, IAF said the CoI has submitted its” primary findings”after analysing the flight data archivist and cockpit voice archivist ( inclusively called the black-box) and questioning all available substantiations to determine the most probable cause of accident.
“The accident was a result of entry into shadows due to unanticipated change in rainfall conditions in the vale. This led to spatial disorientation of the airman performing in Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT). Grounded on its findings, the CoI has made certain recommendations which are being reviewed,”the IAF said An accident that takes place when a airman loses situational mindfulness and unintentionally hits an handicap– ground, mountain, tree or water body– despite being in full control of his copter or aircraft is called CFIT, as was reported by TOI before.
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