President Pratibha Patil, her husband Devisingh Shekhawat and Orissa Governor M C Bhandari had a close shave on Wednesday, when three blades of the helicopter ferrying them back from Puri hit an asbestos shed at Bhubaneswar airport. Three blades of the 16-seater helicopter struck the shed, uprooting its asbestos roof; all the blades bent under the impact.

All three VVIPs are safe. "The President is continuing with her schedule, and is relaxed," her spokesperson said, adding, "The Air Force will investigate the chopper mishap."

President Patil is on a three-day trip to Orissa with her family members and she visited the Konark Sun Temple and later, the Jagannath temple in Puri on Wednesday afternoon.

Though the chopper carrying her landed in falling-light conditions, it was a safe landing by all accounts. But when it took a 360-degree turn while taxiing, the pilot apparently did not realise the aircraft was too close to an abandoned building next to the runway. That this could happen after two dry runs before the final flight, is perplexing and disturbing

A high-level inquiry was ordered as soon as the Secretary to the President called up the Defence Secretary. The inquiry, likely to be taken up by the Indian Air Force will look into the circumstances including pilot error, visibility factor, failure of airport authorities to provide a risk-free runway for VVIP landings, and the role of the marshalling staff that piloted the aircraft during the taxiing operation.

In February this year, a plane carrying 150 passengers narrowly missed colliding with an Air Force chopper at Mumbai airport. That chopper was part of a three-helicopter formation, one of which had President Patil on board.

(With PTI inputs)