The Minister was on his way to take part in the ‘Nimmondige Navu’ programme and he finally landed one hour late at the designated place.
The Minister’s supporters grew anxious as news about the Minister’s copter going missing spread.
The pilot took off as per the Minister’s wish, despite cloudy weather and a wind speed above normal (it was 45 km per hour), because of which the chopper lost its direction. The helicopter passed through Koppal, Gadag, Hampi and Hagaribommanahalli, before landing at Hoovinahadagali at 12.35 pm.
On landing at Hoovinahadagali, Reddy said since the pilot was new to the region, he had crossed Hoovinahadagali and reached Gadag. “I then directed him to take the Hagaribommanahalli route to reach Hoovinahadagali.” The pilot, with an experience of 15 years, had flown the Minister in the same chopper many times, it is said.
Member of Parliament J Shanta, MLC Mrutyunjaya Jinaga, the Kerala-based pilot and an assistant pilot were in the chopper at the time of the incident.
Published 16 June 2011, 18:47 IST