BANGALORE: A chopper of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd's training academy Thursday made an emergency landing atop a building in the eastern suburb of the city, with both of its pilots escaping with minor injuries, the defence behemoth said.
"The Schweizer-300C helicopter of our rotary wing academy, which was on a training sortie, landed on top a building near BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Ltd), Kalyana Mantap in the eastern suburb. Its pilots Air Commodore (Retd) Roj Assey, 56, and trainee captain Digvijay Singh, 25, ejected safely with minor injuries," a HAL official told IANS.
The chopper was on a training sortie over the city for about 130 minutes when it suddenly lost altitude and descended before landing on the rooftop of a private building.
"Assey brought the chopper in control and decided to land atop the building as there was no open space available in the densely-populated locality," the official recalled.
Though there was no damage to the building and pilots escaped with minor injuries, the chopper suffered damage.
The company has ordered an inquiry to investigate the cause of the mishap.
The US-made piston-powered Schweizer helicopters are used for training rookie pilots in flying light utility choppers for multiple roles, including rescue and relief missions. Its weaponised version is used in surveillance and combat operations.