Rajasthan: IAF Mi-17 helicopter makes precautionary landing in village near Jodhpur

An Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter made a precautionary landing at Peelwa village near Jodhpur on Sunday. According to Indian Air Force (IAF) officials, officials carried out checks on the chopper there and now it has returned safely to the Phalodi air base there.

Pertinent to mention, India is one of the largest operators of the Mi-17V5 and Mi-17 helicopter fleets and even uses them for flying its VVIPs including the President and Prime Minister of the country. The Mi-17V5 is the workhorse of the force and is used for maintaining Indian positions in the Siachen glacier and Eastern Ladakh on a daily basis along with the high altitude and far-flung areas in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Notably, this is the second such case of the defence forces' helicopter landing in less than a week. Earlier on Wednesday, an Indian Navy Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), on a routine sortie off the Mumbai coast, made an emergency landing after it experienced a sudden loss of power and rapid loss of height on Wednesday.

According to the Indian Navy, the Pilot carried out controlled ditching (an emergency landing on water). All three crew members on board the helicopter were rescued by naval patrol craft after immediate search and rescue. 

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