Chopper corridor move yet to take off

Mumbai: While the near-miss of the Mi-17 from President Pratibha Patil’s chopper convoy with Air India’s IC-866 created a storm, a dedicated helicopter corridor at Mumbai airport, proposed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) three years ago, is awaiting clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The proposal for at least 60-70 dedicated routes was aimed at preventing slowing down of operations at the airport that sees either a landing or a take-off almost every 30 seconds.
Though certain helicopter corridors — within which an aircraft has to stick — are being used by the airport, they can at best be called an arrangement between the concerned parties.
At present, the airport uses dedicated visual reference points to monitor chopper movements.
The Mumbai International Airport Limited have been saying that helicopter operations should be transferred to Juhu aviation base, a km from Santacruz airport. “Helicopters are meant for vertical take-off or landing. In Indian airports they are made to wait till the approach is clear. Basically it’s meant for fixed-winged aircraft,” said Air Vice Marshal Krishnaswamy Sridharan, President, Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI).
“The helicopter industry and the RWSI have been demanding dedicated helicopter corridors in major airports. In case of Mumbai airport, we have discussed it with AAI and procedures are being evolved which will take some weeks,” said Dr Naseem Zaidi, Director General of Civil Aviation.
13/05/09 Shashank Shekhar/ExpressIndia

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2009