Kedarnath Helicopter Crash: Tragic air crashes in India involving BELL choppers

A Bell 407 helicopter operated by Aryan Aviation crashed in Kedarnath today on October 18, 2022 while carrying pilgrims. All seven people, including six pilgrims and one pilot were killed in the incident. While DGCA has announced a probe into the incident, this is not the first time a chopper has crashed in Kedarnath. Moreover, this is not the fist time a BELL helicopter has crashed in India. Bell Textron Inc. is an American aviation manufacturer based out of the United States and is known for making luxury passenger helicopters for charter and personal flights.

List of Bell helicopter crashes in India

December 2012: Seven people, including a pilot, were injured when a Pawan Hans helicopter operating a Bell 403 helicopter crashed near Vaishnodevi in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir. The chopper made an emergency landing in Trikuta hills following a technical fault detected soon after take-off.

September 2009: Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, then Andhra Pradesh chief minister, was killed in a chopper crash involving a Bell 430 helicopter, that crashed in a dense forest while flying to a village in Chitoor district on September 3, 2009.

April 2003: A Bell 412 helicopter ferrying ONGC personnel crashed while landing at Mumbai’s Juhu aerodrome.

March 3, 2002: The then Lok Sabha speaker and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader GMC Balayogi died in a helicopter crash involving a Bell 206 chopper. The incident happened in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on March 3, 2002.

February 2002: A Bell 430 helicopter crashed in 2002 with famous bollywood singer Anuradha Paudwal onboard the chopper. The helicopter, purchased in 1998, had crashed on February 21, 2002, in a field near Vijay Nagar in Indore while ferrying Bollywood singer Anuradha Paudwal to a government event.