Indian Air Force Ditches AW119 Helicopter in Mountain Rescue | Aviation International News

Indian Air Force Drops AW119 Helicopter in Rescue Flight

Rotorcraft was stranded in mountains after carrying pilgrims to shrines

Kestrel Aviation AW119 helicopter — One of three AW119 helicopters operated by Indian charter company Kestrel Aviation had to be jettisoned after an attempt to recover it from a remote location in India.

By Neelam Mathews

September 3, 2024

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched an investigation into how a Leonardo AW119 helicopter came to be dropped while being carried beneath a larger Mi-17 military rotorcraft. Owned by charter operator Kestrel Aviation, the AW119 was being airlifted on Saturday from Kedarnath in the mountainous northern state of Uttarakhand after becoming unserviceable.

According to an IAF spokesperson, the AW119 started to oscillate in a hazardous way, forcing the military pilots to ditch the load into the Mandakini River in an unpopulated area. The aircraft had been stranded at Kedarnath—which is 11,755 feet msl—since May after a charter flight carrying pilgrims to religious shrines in the Himalayan mountains made an emergency landing.

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