After Arunachal tragedy, Dhumal tells GAD to take due precautions

Learning lessons from the helicopter crashes that killed Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu last week and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy in 2009, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is now cautious and wants a “safe” chopper for emergency flights in the hill state.
Particularly against single-engine choppers, Dhumal had a twin-engine Italian AgustaWestland AW139, the personal helicopter of Congress MP and Haryana industrialist Naveen Jindal, hired for flying to Haripurdhar on Wednesday. From Shimla, Haripurdhar is nearly 220 kilometre by road on a tough terrain.
With the Jagson Airlines helicopter taken on ‘wet lease’ by the state earlier this year grounded on the orders of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) two months ago, Himachal Pradesh does not have an official helicopter at present to fly its VVIPs to remote and inaccessible areas. The CM had been initially using a single-engine small helicopter as an alternative. But after Khandu’s chopper went missing, the CM’s office wrote a strong note to the General Administration Department (GAD) to arrange a “safe and bigger” helicopter.
06/05/11 Ashwani Sharma/Indian Express

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2011, Safety May 2011