Hyderabad: The Bell 430 helicopter that went missing on Wednesday with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on board had a valid airworthiness certificate, the state government maintained.
Chief Secretary P Ramakant Reddy said that the aircraft had been issued a certificate of airworthiness by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 6, 2008, and it was valid up to December 5, 2010.
He said the helicopter was being flown by two experienced pilots – Group Captain SK Bhatia and Captain MS Reddy.
The others on board are the Chief Minister's Special Secretary B Subrahmanyam and Chief Security Officer ASC Wesley.
The official said the helicopter was equipped with Emergency Located Transmitter (ELT), capable of automatic transmission on a frequency of 121.5 and 243 mega hertz which would have activated in a crashlanding or in case of any unforeseen eventuality.
However, Dornier 228 aircraft which took off from the Yelahanka air base near Bangalore and is capable of picking up ELT frequency signals, did not pick up such signals despite flying over the area where the helicopter went missing.
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