Friday, January 26, 2018

Maharashtra now has a helipad policy

In the wake of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's five narrow escapes from different helicopter mishaps during 2017-18, the Maharashtra government released a comprehensive helipad policy on Thursday. The most recent mishap happened on January 11, when the trail rotor of the CM's helicopter got entangled in a cable while landing in Bhayander, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The government has issued an 11-page notification in this regard.

The policy envisages that the landing and take-off sites will have to be preferably within the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas, district parade grounds and open playgrounds and it should be clear of densely populated areas and with easy two-way access for vehicular movements, such as fire brigade and ambulance. More importantly, the site and adjoining area up to a distance of 500 meters from the helipad site should be free of electric wires, telephone cables, data and TV cables, microwave tower, transformers and any such object that may obstruct flying.

The site should be a flat piece of well-drained, firm ground, either good grass or solid surface free from debris and the take-off area and landing designated area should be obstruction-free up to a distance of 245 metres from the edge of the helicopter in both directions. It will be the sole responsibility of the district collector to ensure that no kind of construction takes place around the site which may obstruct smooth operations.

The site should have provisioning of facilities for cordoning off the area whereby the crowd will be barricaded at least 300 metres from the centre of the landing site and only minimum necessary authorised personnel be allowed to enter the helipad area. The approval from the state Director of Civil Aviation is must for the location selected for the site while the existing sites which are approved by Director General Civil Aviation will continue to be used under intimation to the district collector.
26/01/18 Sanjay Jog/DNA
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