Three Indian Army officers, including Major General Sachin Mehta, General Officer Commanding of 3 Infantry Division, had a narrow escape after a Cheetah helicopter crashed in the high-altitude terrain of Ladakh earlier this week.
The incident occurred on Wednesday (May 20) in the mountainous Tangste region near Leh. It, however, came to be reported on Friday.
A Lieutenant Colonel and a Major were piloting the single-engine helicopter, with Major General Sachin Mehta on board as a passenger, a report by The Hindustan Times stated.
All three occupants survived the crash and suffered only minor injuries. Officials described their survival as “nothing short of a miracle”, given the difficult terrain where the helicopter went down.
Further details on the circumstances leading to the accident are awaited pending the inquiry.
All three were evacuated and are reported to be safe and stable. The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry to determine the cause of the crash.
The incident has once again raised concerns over the ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters that continue to be extensively used by the Indian armed forces in challenging high-altitude terrain.
About Cheetah Helicopters
The Cheetah is a light, single-engine helicopter widely deployed by the Army for transport and operational duties in mountainous regions such as Ladakh.
Together, across all three services, the combined Cheetah and Chetak fleet still numbers around 400, though these ageing single-engine helicopters have increasingly shown the limits of their vintage design, with a series of serious accidents in recent years. It also calls for an urgent need to modernise India’s light helicopter fleet.
The Indian Air Force inducted the Chetak helicopter in 1965, followed by the Cheetah in 1976. The Indian Army took delivery of its first Cheetah in 1976–1977, and the helicopter has since remained the lifeline of soldiers posted at high altitudes in the Himalayas.
Built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under a licence from French aerospace manufacturer Aerospatiale, the Cheetah has served for nearly five decades across some of India’s most inhospitable terrain.