Technical snag in Rahul Gandhi's aircraft, Congress cries "Conspiracy"
Technical snag in Rahul Gandhi's aircraft, Congress cries Conspiracy Congress on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Karnataka police after the private aircraft that Rahul Gandhi was travelling by experienced technical snag. The 10-seater Dassault Falcon 2000 aircraft (VT-AVH) was carrying party president Rahul Gandhi to Hubballi from New Delhi. According to the complaint, filed by Rahul's close aide Kaushal K Vidyarthee, who was travelling with him, the aircraft suddenly tilted heavily on the left side and the altitude dipped steeply, combined with violent shuddering of the plane's body. "It was unusual given that the weather outside was sunny and normal," the complaint, filed with Karnataka IG and DG Neelamani Raju, stated. It also said that clanking noise was audible from one side of the plane throughout the shuddering of the aircraft body and they claimed that the auto-pilot of the aircraft was not functioning. Subsequently, an FIR was registered at the Hubballi Gokul Road police station by KPCC general secretary Shakir Sanadi. "The whole flight experience left all of us with anxiety and distress and positively fearing for their life. The crew was also petrified and admitted the plight was particularly frightening and uncommon," Vidyarthee said in the complaint. "It was apparent from the suspicious and faulty performance of the aircraft that the incident of shuddering and altitude dipping were not natural or weather related but were due to some technical snags of the aircraft. Serious questions related to intentional tampering with the aircraft cannot also be brush aside and are required to be investigated," he added. "Glad to be in a room and getting some rest… thankful for being alive… never had such a frightening experience in my life... plane went into free fall… couldn't believe CP's composure and calmness as he stood beside pilots trying to save the situation," tweeted Vidyarthee. A senior DGCA official said, "The charter aircraft operator reported the incident to us. It was an autopilot snag because of which the pilot shifted the aircraft to manual mode and landed safely. Autopilot shut down incidents are not uncommon. But any occurrence with a VIP flight is investigated thoroughly and that will be done in this case too." -PTC News
