All eyes on DGCA to know cause of crash

New Delhi: The Directorate General Civil Aviation ( DGCA) faces a daunting task to rummage through the debris of the Bell 430 chopper and locate its cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to ascertain the reasons of the crash.
The UPA government has constituted a four- member inquiry committee, which will be headed by Pawan Hans Helicopters CMD R. K. Tyagi. The panel - which will, if needed, take assistance from the Indian Air force and other experts - will submit its report to the Centre within two months.
According to Rotary Wing Society of India ( RWSI) president Air Vice- Marshal ( retd) M. Sreedharan, the DGCA has only one helicopter flight inspector to check, advise or investigate accidents, whereas the total number of helicopters available for commercial and non- commercial operations are around 250. There is an urgent need to increase the number of flight inspectors to at least five, with one each at all regional headquarters of the DGCA, the RWSI said.
Another expert said helicopters are not fit for bad weather and not as stable as fixed wing aircraft. In choppers, air speed indicators are unreliable during low- visibility take- offs.
The emergency local transmitter ( ELT) system- cum- beacon of YSR's chopper didn't emit a signal, which could have been picked up by a low- flying aircraft or a satellite. Wing Commander ( retd) Sanjay Mittal YSM VM said emersion of the ELT in a water body prevents any transmission from being picked up by the satellite constellation. Low batteries of the ELT can also cause generation signals.
04/09/09 Ajmer Singh/India Today

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2009, Safety Sep 2009