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| Flight norms often violated in J&K | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
JAMMU, September 4: The tragic death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy in a helicopter crash has brought flight safety of aircraft used by VIPs into sharp focus. Several state governments own aircraft these days but some of them routinely violate standard procedures, according to sources.
These violations mainly happen because the VIPs insist on flying at short notice or in less than ideal weather. In the former case, the staff do not get adequate time to check the aircraft rigorously. Of course, the perils of flying in less than ideal weather are too well known yet it is sometimes resorted to. Fortunately, rarely, the sources added.
The staff engaged in the upkeep of the three aircraft owned by the J&K government are presently engaged in following the procedures diligently. However, in the past, the state aircraft have been involved in a couple of unsavoury incidents.
In one such case, the helicopter being flown by Group Captain (retired) J S Kahlon had crashed in August 2003, killing him and four Amarnath pilgrims on board in Ganderbal. Kahlon was known affectionately as King Kahlon among his colleagues.
Earlier, Kahlon was involved in another accident when his helicopter crashed. However, he had a providential escape as the crash-landing on soft snow cushioned the impact though the machine was damaged extensively.
On yet another occasion, in 2001, a state helicopter had violated flight safety norms endangering the passengers. This happened during Dr Farooq Abdullah’s tenure as chief minister. The pilot and other staff reportedly escaped without any punishment or reprimand as the incident was brushed under the carpet.
The helicopter had landed near the Amarnath cave and the Army personnel deployed there threatened to shoot the occupants. The helicopter was carrying the relatives of a top bureaucrat considered very close to Dr Abdullah.
This had happened because the Army personnel had not been intimated in advance about the flight. Even the annual pilgrimage had not started the day the state helicopter landed near the holy cave.
Nowadays, helicopter services to the Amarnath cave do not raise eyebrows but in 2001, such flights had not been started. The then Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Mr Pervez Dewan, had to do the ``fire-fighting’’ on behalf of the state government on this occasion, according to sources.
In 2002, during the assembly elections, an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17 helicopter, ferrying a press party, wrongly landed in an Army area at Basohli more, instead of Basohli. The two locations are about 8 to 10 nautical miles apart. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that Pakistan territory lies barely three nautical miles further west.
After getting correct co-ordinates from the Udhampur base later, the helicopter resumed its journey. It flew the press party to Basohli, onwards to Reasi and then back to Jammu. Without any further hiccups.
On June 2005, another IAF Mi-17 being flown by a senior IAF officer from Jammu met with an accident in Surankote area while landing. Fortunately, there were no fatal casualties and the incident was firmly put under the carpet.
This had happened at a time when the then Northern Command chief, Lt.-Gen. Hari Prasad, was visiting Srinagar. He was also using an IAF Mi-17.
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