WHY NEEDS HELICOPTERS? RISE OF THE MACHINES: FROM SHUTTLE SERVICES TO DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND , HELICOPTERS ARE VERSATILE MACHINES THAT CAN HANDLE MOST OPERATIONS By Sanjay Malhotra Disaster Response Force (NDRF) under the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) has been constituted to provide Helicopters’ ability to land almost any- immediate relief/rescue. If the NDRF wants where, hover and turn on a single spot to fly their teams to remote areas, it must and operate from all types of terrain have get permission from the home ministry and also made them popular with military, the defence ministry to use helicopters. It police forces, emergency medical servic- may be worth considering equipping the es, news gathering, sightseeing, and in NDMA with adequate numbers of suitable disaster relief operations. helicopters to be deployed with NDRF. From the time the first civil helicopter Fire-fighting: Should a fire occur in a high- took to the skies in India in November rise, it could be disastrous. Fire-fighters can- 1953 up to l986, commercial employment not reach the upper stories from the exterior. of helicopters was limited to small compa- But helicopters are very effective; they can nies such as Cambata Aviation and Bharat deliver large volumes of water with pin-point Air. These were involved in communications accuracy and have a quick turn-around time. and crop spraying. Today there are approxi- The - Industrial Corridor plans to mately 284 civil registered helicopters in create smart cities along a designated route. the country, with about 70 commercial An infrastructure for aerial fire-fighting meth- operators and 36 maintenance organisa- od that uses helicopters should be created in tions. This number is woefully inadequate these smart cities. when compared to the number of civil heli- account for over 75% of the total flying tional airports located far away from the Law enforcement: In India the concept of copters seen worldwide. Helicopters in hours logged by the civil helicopter fleet in centre in cities like , , aerial law enforcement by the police and India account for less than 1% of the global the country. As oil exploration moves fur- and Shimla, heli-shuttle require- allied agencies is in a nascent stage. The civil helicopters (35,000). In comparison, in ther offshore, the demand for modern heli- ments are bound to see a rapid increase. use of civil registered helicopters being Brazil, a developing country like ours, the copters with better range and advanced Helicopter Emergency Medical Services used in anti Naxal operations in the red city of Sao Paulo (similar to Mumbai and safety features would increase. corridor is a recent step in this direction. Delhi) itself has about 750 helicopters. The Heli-tourism: Operators such as HELICOPTERS IN However, these measures need to be US a leader in the civil helicopter market Himalayan Aviation, Global Vectra and streamlined. has about 14,000 helicopters, while our PHHL are already providing heli-tourism INDIA ACCOUNT Operational & fiscal bottlenecks: The ris- neighbour China is reported to have about packages in various parts of the country. FOR LESS THAN 1% ing costs of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), cus- 1,200 helicopters. Journeys to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Vaishno OF THE GLOBAL toms duty for import of helicopters/spares, Global statistics on civil helicopter opera- Devi and Amarnath, which were difficult CIVIL HELICOPTERS application of fixed-wing air traffic rules to tions indicate that 40% of the fleet is used and time consuming earlier, have now been helicopters and the generally low rates for corporate aviation, 29% for emergency made easier through heli-pilgrimages. (HEMS): A helicopter equipped with emer- seen across the industry as compared to medical services and law enforcement, There are various other centres where such gency medical equipment along with a other countries, have stymied the growth of 16% in the energy sector for onshore/off- heli-pilgrimages can be promoted. qualified medic can play a crucial role in the civil helicopter industry. We have to look shore operations, and the remaining for Shuttle services: The requirement for saving lives. The HEMS concept needs to at a network of heliports and roof top heli- operations in heli-tourism, adventure sports helicopters for shuttle services is also grow- be implemented at the earliest; the lead pads if the full potential of civil helicopter and aerial surveys. ing, especially in the Northeast. Helicopters needs to be taken by the government, operations in to be realised. Energy sector/offshore operations: In also providing inter-island transportation for which can offer subsidies to reduce the The author is MD, Jubilant Enpro Services Pvt India, there are about 40 helicopters Andaman & Nicobar Islands and cost of operations. Ltd – Independent Representatives, Bell Helicopter employed in the offshore sector. These Lakshadweep. With a number of interna- Disaster management: The National since 1995