Chopper ferrying Vaghela, part of Prez fleet, hit by glitch

A helicopter, part of President Pranab Mukherjee's entourage and ferrying Congress leaders Shankersinh Vaghela and Bharatsinh Solanki, made an emergency landing at the Vadodara airport due to a technical glitch today but all on-board the chopper were safe.
The chopper was among three VIP helicopters which took off from Ankleshwar in Bharuch district, where the President inaugurated a hospital, and was headed to Gandhinagar. But only the chopper carrying the President and another one arrived here.
"A VIP helicopter made an emergency landing at Vadodara airport this afternoon due to some technical snag," an airport official said.
According to Vaghela, one of the two engines of the helicopter developed a technical problem after it took off from Ankleshwar.

Apart from Vaghela, the Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly, Solanki who is the state Congress President, was also in the snag-hit helicopter, a Mi-17.
"It is mandatory for VIP helicopters to have two engines for safety reasons. Our helicopter had to make an emergency landing at Vadodara Airport (90 km from Ankleshwar) after we left Ankleshwar to reach Gandhinagar. We then reached Gandhinagar after another chopper was arranged," Vaghela said at his education institute after his arrival.

"All the occupants of the chopper that made an emergency landing in Vadodara were safe," a senior official said.
On his Gujarat visit, the President inaugurated two hospitals in Bharuch and Ankleshwar and addressed students at Bapu Gujarat Knowledge Village, an educational institute run by Vaghela at Vasan village near the state capital.

Vaghela directly reached the institute in the chopper arranged for him, while Mukherjee, who was on schedule, went to Raj Bhavan first and then reached Vasan by road.
The function at Vasan, which was supposed to start at 3:30 PM, began almost two-and-half hours behind schedule.
In his introductory speech ahead of the President's address, Vaghela, a former Chief Minister, explained the reason for delay at start of the event and informed the audience about the emergency landing.