CDS chopper crash: Probe report in January, unintentional error likely cause

NEW DELHI: JAN. 2 – The probe into last month’s helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu that killed the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, and 13 others is close to being complete and the final report is expected to be submitted to the Air Force Chief in January, according to Defence sources.

There is no official word from the Air Force on the probe’s findings so far. Sources suggested that the likely cause is not a human or technical error but what is known as Controlled Flight into Terrain (CIFT), when the pilot unintentionally hits a surface.