AAI refuses answer to query on YSR chopper crash

Hyderabad: The big question that everyone wants an answer to is: How did Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's helicopter crash on September 2? The Airports Authority of India's (AAI) cryptic reply is: Don't ask.
This is the sum and substance of a query posed by this newspaper under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to the AAI, Hyderabad.
To get out of the piquant situation, the Public Information Officer (PIO) Sultan Mohiuddin, AAI Hyderabad, replied saying that since the matter was under investigation, `any information on the subject matter by the AAI at this juncture would impede the process of investigation'.
According to Section 10 (2) of the RTI Act, 2005, the AAI is obliged to provide all the other information that would not affect investigation.
What TOI sought was a complete copy of the transcript of the conversation between the pilot Gp Capt S K Bhatia and co-pilot Capt M S Reddy of the Bell-430 chopper with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) on September 2 before it crashed.
Since this is a record with the ATC which cannot be tampered and one that is being provided to all investigating agencies, one wonders how the PIO really believes that providing the information would `impede the process of investigation'.
Even a question as simple as what time the helicopter was originally scheduled to take off and what time the ATC permitted it to take off was also brushed aside.
24/09/09 Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2009, Safety Sep 2009