Flight Voice Recorder of crashed chopper found

A joint team of Directorate General of Civil Aviation officials and the police on Friday located the Flight Voice Recorder of the helicopter that crashed killing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, laying their hands on a piece of evidence that may throw some light on the incident.

The Flight Voice Recorder was found near the crash site on the hills of Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district where the charred remains of Reddy and four others as also the wreckage of the chopper was found on Thursday morning, Padmaja, Revenue Division Officer of Kurnool district said.

The instrument was handed over to the four-member team of DGCA which is conducting the probe into the crash that left Reddy, his Principal Secretary P Subramanyam, Chief Security Officer A S C Wesley and pilots S K Bhatia and M S Reddy dead.

Padmaja said the Flight Voice Recorder was found by a joint team of state police and the DGCA probe team. The DGCA team on Friday collected the debris of the chopper and will visit the crash site tomorrow.

The team led by Capt Sanjay visited Kurnool and took the debris from local police and revenue officials, official sources here said. The team will go to the crash site on the hill of Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district on Saturday morning for an on-the-spot inquiry.

The police registered a case under section 174 of Criminal Procedure Corde (death due to helicopter crash) in connection with the chopper crash and death of Reddy and four others.

Meanwhile, another probe team set up by the Civil Aviation Ministry led R K Tyagi, Chairman and Managing Director of Pawan Hans Helicopter, is reaching Kurnool on Tuesday.