On Aug. 25, 2021 an Indian Air Force CH-47F(I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopter made an emergency landing on a school ground in Buxar district in what appears to be a ball field.
A curious incident happened on Aug. 25, 2021 when an Indian Air Force (IAF) CH-47F(I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopter made an emergency landing on a school ground in Buxar district in what appears to be a ball field, Hindustan Times reports.
According to a defence official of Prayagraj, following a technical snag while on a training flight, crew members did a precautionary landing. None of the 15 crew members aboard were injured.
‘Following a technical snag, crew members executed a precautionary landing around 5.25 pm on the premises of Manikpur High School under Dhansoi police station limits. All 15 on board were safe,’ the defence official explained.
‘The newly inducted helicopter had taken off from Prayagraj and was on way to Bihta air base near Patna when it had to make an emergency landing,’ said Buxar district magistrate Aman Samir.
No major damage has been reported, Samir said. Police had been deployed to guard the helicopter till the time IAF personnel flew it back on Aug. 28.
The Indian Ministry of Defence finalized its order with Boeing for the production, training and support of 15 CH-47F(I) Chinook helicopters in September 2015. The company completed the delivery of all CH-47F(I) Chinooks to the IAF in March 2020.
The CH-47F(I) Chinook contains a modern machined airframe, a common avionics architecture system (CAAS) cockpit, and a digital automatic flight control system (DAFCS). Those innovations and technologies will help the Indian Air Force meet evolving mission demands, maximize interoperability, and reduce lifecycle costs.
Noteworthy this is not the first time a military helicopter lands on a ball field.
On Nov. 18, 2017, in fact a US Marine Corps (USMC) AH-1W Super Cobra landed at Bar Harbor athletic field to retrieve a cell phone the crew had left at a local restaurant. A server of the restaurant brought the cell phone the crew had left behind down to the ball field.
On that occasion not only the presence of the helicopters caused some alarm in the neighborhood, but their noise also set off at least one car alarm (CLICK HERE to read the full story of the Marine that landed his AH-1W Super Cobra at ball field to retrieve the cell phone he had left behind at local restaurant).
