Sukhbir Badal’s chopper makes emergency landing in Punjab
August 30th, 2009 - 7:05 pm ICT by IANSFerozepur (Punjab), Aug 30 (IANS) A helicopter carrying Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had to make an emergency landing in an open field in this Punjab district Sunday following a technical snag, officials said.
Badal was on his way to Jalalabad in the district, some 280 km from Chandigarh, when the two pilots of the Bell 230 helicopter, hired by the Punjab government from Prem Air, experienced some difficulty barely minutes before the landing at the scheduled place and had to bring it to ground immediately.
“The chopper had to make an emergency landing in the open fields of Gobind Nagar, around 700 meters before the BSF (Border Security Force) helipad, where it was actually supposed to land,” Harcharan Bains, media advisor of Punjab chief minister, told reporters in Chandigarh.
He said though preliminary investigation has not revealed anything suspicious, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has been asked to conduct an independent inquiry into the incident.
Bains said that nobody was hurt during the emergency landing.
Badal was going to Jalalabad to thank the voters of the constituency from where he was elected to the state assembly by a whopping margin of over 80,000 votes earlier this month.
Despite the emergency landing, Badal continued his journey and carried on with his programme.
- Badal's helicopter makes emergency landing in Punjab - Aug 30, 2009
- DGCA to probe pilot's girlfriend on Badal's chopper - Sep 11, 2009
- Chopper crashes in Chandigarh airport, pilots injured (Lead) - Dec 16, 2010
- Chopper crashes at Chandigarh airport, DGCA to probe (Second Lead) - Dec 16, 2010
- Munda recovering in hospital after chopper crash - May 10, 2012
- Akalis field Olympian Pargat Singh, Sukhbir Badal files nomination - Jan 09, 2012
- New integrated checkpost opened at Attari, to boost Indo-Pak trade (Lead) - Apr 13, 2012
- Jharkhand CM survives nasty chopper crash (Evening Lead) - May 09, 2012
- 'Clouds' galore over Punjab's electoral skies - Jan 26, 2012
- Emergency landing by IAF chopper in Haryana (Lead) - Jul 25, 2010
- Gehlot's chopper makes emergency landing - Nov 20, 2011
- Pilot wisdom saved Munda and others - May 09, 2012
- Punjab legislator dies - Mar 04, 2012
- 801 nominations for Punjab polls rejected - Jan 14, 2012
- Akali Dal releases second list of candidates - Dec 27, 2011
Tags: bell 230, border security force, chandigarh, chopper, civil aviation, constituency, deputy chief minister, dgca, directorate general, emergency landing, ferozepur, helicopter, helipad, independent inquiry, jalalabad, preliminary investigation, punjab government, state assembly, sukhbir badal, technical snag