Just a month after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had a narrow escape while flying in a helicopter with its doors open, JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav on Thursday had a close shave when his helicopter developed severe mid-air vibrations that forced an emergency landing on a field near Patna.
Mr Yadav and four others, including a BJP minister and two bureaucrats, accompanying him on the copter escaped danger because the snag was detected within five minutes of take-off from the Patna airport and the copter was still low in the sky, making the emergency landing safe, said officials.
Pilot B.K. Singh felt “abnormal vibration” in the helicopter and, suspecting serious technical snag, landed the aircraft in an open field near Jakkanpur on the outskirts of Patna at about 9.20 am.
Prior routine checkups on the helicopter had found nothing wrong, but Afzal Amanullah, principal secretary of the cabinet and coordination department, said inspections by engineers after the landing found the metal tip on a backside router in the helicopter was missing.