The whirring rotor blades of a helicopter decapitated a ground staff member of an air charter firm in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand. He was approaching the chopper just after it had landed. That was in May 2007, a year in which aircraft accidents killed nine people countrywide.
A probe into the accident at Phata helipad later revealed the Prabhatam Aviation Pvt. Ltd employee had flouted the most basic of rules.
Ground crew are supposed to approach a helicopter, or any aircraft, only after the anti-collision beacon—the red flashing light below the aircraft—is switched off.
“It was unfortunate,” says Capt. P.K. Chabri, vice-president of Prabhatam Aviation, adding that the firm had supported the employee’s family with Rs10 lakh compensation. “He had been with us for three years. He was fully trained for the job... But since the accident, we have started a practice drill for the staff every week.”
While no lives had been lost in such accidents the year before the Rudraprayag mishap, eight people were killed in 2008, and 10 died last year.
Investigations carried out by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show most of these accidents involved aircraft run by non-scheduled operators (NSOPs)—such as Prabhatam Aviation—or those used for pilot training.
India has seen the number of NSOPs at least double from 56 in 2006 to 122 in 2009 as economic growth accelerated.
11/02/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint
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