As the probe begins into the crash that killed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, it turns out that the state government was contemplating replacing that chopper in its VIP fleet. That YSR used the same Bell-430 which the government was looking to sell off is coincidence, officials said, vouching for the high safety standards of the machine.

“There was a proposal to sell the Bell-430 and buy a new, fixed-wing executive jet. A committee had been formed to explore options including to sell this one and buy another,” Secretary (Infrastructure and Investment) to the Andhra Pradesh Government Manmohan Singh told The Sunday Express from Hyderabad. But no “final decision” was taken by the committee headed by the state Finance Secretary.

A year ago, the Andhra government acquired an Agusta Westland AW-139 helicopter. It was out of service for a scheduled overhaul after having been operational for a year. It returned to Begumpet around noon the day the crash occurred and was pressed into the search operation that day and the next.