2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash
Andhra Pradesh Government Bell 430 · Spatial disorientation resulting from a mechanical failure, pilot error
From Begumpet Airport (BPM) to Anuppalle helipad
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA09WA076
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Government
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Bell 430
- Aircraft type
- Bell 430
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VT-APG
- Operator
- Andhra Pradesh Government
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Begumpet Airport (BPM)To Anuppalle helipad
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Kurnool, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash occurred on 2 September 2009 near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nmi from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. The helicopter was a Bell 430 helicopter owned by the Andhra Pradesh Government, and registered VT-APG. Fatalities included Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh among others.
Accident
The Puli 430 helicopter took off from Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, and soon encountered bad weather. The official accident report states that the aircraft's weather radar was red, meaning that the weather was extreme. The flight crew decided to fly slightly left of their planned route. The pilots soon noticed that the weather was getting worse, and agreed that they would turn left after crossing Krishna River. Begumpet and Shamshabad Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 9:02 am IST while it was passing through the dense Nallamala Forest area.
Shortly after 09:20 am IST, the flight crew encountered a problem with the transmission oil pressure. The pilots became engaged in finding out emergency checklist procedures for the transmission oil pressure, but were unsuccessful.
Soon after, the co-pilot continually called out "go around", likely indicating that he thought the aircraft would soon crash into something. During the last 14 seconds, the rate of descent was extremely high. Thereafter the helicopter crashed due to loss of control resulting in high rate of descent in down draught. The helicopter impacted the ground in a steep left bank and all occupants on board died due to crash injuries.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Although the sparsely populated forest area is considered to be stronghold of the outlawed Naxal communist insurgents, the National Security Advisor of India ruled out the possibility of the Naxals bringing down the helicopter.
The investigation eventually concluded that the factors that caused that crash included the fact that the crew became fixated for more than six minutes in trying to find the reason behind the problem with their transmission oil pressure system, and they became distracted from the worsening weather. They also noted that the flight crew was flying in Instrument meteorological conditions whereas the flight plan was cleared for VFR flying, and the flight crew never discussed the bad weather, diverting, or returning to base.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash” (revision 1363151050, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
On September 2, 2009, at approximately 0343 UTC, a Government of Andhra Pradesh Gad (Poll "c") Bell 430 helicopter crashed enroute to Chitoor, India from Hyderabad, India. There were 2 crew members and 3 passengers, including the Secretariat of Hyderabad on board. The helicopter was destroyed and there are no reported survivors. The investigation is being conducting by the Central Government of India. The NTSB has designated a U.S. Accredited Representative as the state of manufacture of the engines.
All inquiries related to this investigation should be directed to:
Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation DGCA Complex Opposite Safdarjung Airport New Delhi 110003 India
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash
- Revision
- 1363151050 · 2026-07-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4613202
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA09WA076
- Event ID
- 20090909X30343
- Case number
- DCA09WA076
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash" (page 24210124, revision 1363151050); merged with NTSB case DCA09WA076 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA09WA076
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A state government helicopter carrying the Chief Minister: state VIP transport, a government flight. The article: "The helicopter was a Bell 430 helicopter owned by the Andhra Pradesh Government, and registered VT-APG."
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2009 Andhra Pradesh helicopter crash" and NTSB case DCA09WA076, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.