Date:24/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/24/stories/2005052409350400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Chopper of YSR fed wrong data again

Special Correspondent

Error detected in advance this time

HYDERABAD: For the second time in three days, wrong coordinates were fed into the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the helicopter used by the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Monday. But, this time the mistake was detected in time.

Dr. Reddy was scheduled to leave for his Assembly constituency, Pulivendula, this morning. In light of Saturday's experience, when Dr. Reddy's helicopter veered nearly 55 km off course in Adilabad district, the Chief Security Officer ordered the advance liaison party to double-check the coordinates furnished by the Revenue Department.

To his surprise, he found that the entry fed into the on-board GPS of the helicopter was one degree off the actual geographical coordinates of Pulivendula. Had the pilot followed this data, the chopper would have veered off course and landed a good distance away from the actual destination.

Having identified the error, the security official immediately rectified the coordinates before the helicopter took off for Pulivendula with the Chief Minister. The CSO directed the advance liaison party to cross-check the parameters provided by the Revenue Department in future.