Agatha plea for trained pilots

Shillong: Pilots flying along the treacherous terrain in the Northeast should be specially trained in order to avoid incidents like the recent chopper crash in Tawang, Union minister of state for rural development Agatha K. Sangma said here today.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, Agatha said: “I think pilots who are flying here have been trained to fly in the plains. They should be specifically trained to fly in hilly terrain to avoid tragic incidents.”
Agatha’s remarks came after 17 people died in Tawang when a Pawan Hans chopper crashed on April 19 and after the chopper carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu and four others went missing on Saturday.
Saying that she was in Tawang when the April 19 crash occurred, Agatha said: “We should not have incidents like these to wake us up.”
Agatha’s insistence on having pilots who are specifically trained to fly in the hilly terrain comes in the wake of the Meghalaya government suspending Pawan Hans chopper services from Saturday.
04/05/11 The Telegraph

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