Nagpur: A Bell 407 helicopter belonging to a private company made an emergency landing on a Shankarpat (bullock-cart racing) track near a water body in Mohgaon Buzrug village in Bhandara district on Sunday, drawing around 200 villagers from nearby areas for a closer look.After taking off from Nagpur, the chopper was headed for Raipur in Chhattisgarh when bad weather, poor visibility and a loss of signal forced the pilot to land on the track around 11am, police sources said.Soon, pictures of the black-and-red helicopter on the ground near the water body, along with videos of people taking selfies while leaning on it and of the gathering crowd, went viral on social media.As it was a ferry flight, there were no passengers on board; only the pilot and an engineer were in the helicopter.According to sources at the spot, the pilot tried to contact police in Gondia and Gadchiroli, possibly due to confusion about the location. Locals who spotted the chopper informed Kardi police station in Bhandara. “The pilot had to take a quick decision and chose to land on the open ground,” said assistant police inspector G Naglot of Kardi police station.After the landing, Gondia airport was contacted to check whether it was operational. However, operations were shut as commercial flights from Gondia have been suspended and the flying school had an off. The chopper took off for Nagpur about an hour later after the weather cleared.Sources said DGCA rules allow helicopters to land on any open land in an emergency. Unlike an airplane classified as a fixed-wing aircraft, a helicopter’s emergency landing need not be limited to an airport. The pilot can use discretion and land at a safe place, after which the district administration and police must be informed.Since helicopters usually fly at low altitudes, they typically remain within the range of one ATC tower or another as they proceed, a source said.Pilots are given a weather briefing, but mid-route turbulence cannot be ruled out, the source said, adding that data is also received from the Flight Information Centre in Mumbai.
