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Our Deep Gratitude to 2021 Should Augur Well for CORPORATE MEMBERS the Industry Alliance Insurance Brokers (P) Ltd. Dear Reader, Aman Aviation & Aerospace Solutions (P) Ltd. Wishing you and your family Happy New Year 2021. Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation This March, the outbreak of COVID-19 sent our aviation Air Works Engg. (P) Ltd. industry into a tailspin, as airports were shut down and most Airbus fleets were grounded. However, the helicopters involved in Arki Aviation (P) Ltd. energy sector continued to provide logistic air support to Exploration and Arrow Aircraft Sales & Charters Pvt. Ltd Production agencies in oil and gas. The Non-Scheduled Operators were among AON Global Insurance Brokers (P) Ltd. the worst hit by the pandemic. AVI-Oil India Ltd. The situation resulted in a serious liquidity problem for the Industry with no revenues and salaries to be paid each month. As a result, the Bell Helicopter India Inc. payment of rentals/lease related to office space, Hangar, Porta Cabin imposed a BG Shirke Construction Technology (P) Ltd. tremendous financial burden threatening the very survival of our Commercial Bharat Forge Limited Helicopter Operators. RWSI continued its requests to MOCA & AAI for waiver Bharat Stars Services () (P) Ltd. of the Hangar and Office rentals / Porta Cabin charges / Royalties/ Interest for Boeing International Corporation the duration of the lockdown. Regrettably, the Operators did not get any relief. Cairn India Ltd. In respect of op, fiscal and Regulatory issues affecting the Helicopter Operators, Chemplast Sanmar Ltd RWSI held meetings with Smt Usha Padhee IAS Joint Secretary, MOCA on 24 Ltd. Aug 20 and 30 Sep 20. Hopefully, progress of our request will provide the much- Delhi Institute of Aeronautical Sciences needed stimulus to survive and revive as a business. DG Civil Aviation Govt of U.P. Civil Helicopter Ops. Today, the civil helicopter fleet strength in non- Dhillon Aviation (P) Ltd. scheduled operator’s category is just 183, while it was 222 on 31 Dec 12. There Directorate of Civil Avn Govt of has been a negative growth of the civil helicopter fleet since FY 2011-12. Besides, Directorate of Aviation Govt of Gujarat high operational costs aggravated by a depreciated rupee, exorbitant Aeronautical Directorate of Aviation Govt of Chhattisgarh & Non-Aeronautical charges levied on helicopter operations under various Donaldson Filters India heads have pushed the cost of operations to an unaffordable limit. While the Dynamatic Technologies Ltd MOCA vide Para 16 of its National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) in 2016, came Elbit Systems out with key policies to promote Helicopters to play a key role in remote area connectivity, intra-city movement, tourism, law enforcement, emergency medical Essar Power Ltd. evacuation, little progress has been made in implementing the policies. We Executive Airways (P) Ltd. therefore urge the MOCA to implement the assurances given in the NCAP 2016 Epsilon Aerospace Pvt Ltd related to the Industry. Fishtail Air (P) Ltd. () Military Helicopter Ops. Unlike the Civil Helicopter operators, the induction Garuda Aerospace (P) Ltd of heavy lift chinook CH 47 helicopters and Apache AH 64 Attack helicopters in Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd. the IAF during the year 2019-20 has added strength to the combat support Globe Aviation capabilities of the IAF. However, it is despairing that the acquisition of light Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd. observation helicopters to replace the existing obsolete Chetak/Cheetah fleet Ghodawat Enterprises (P) Ltd. for Army Aviation is still to be resolved. Any further delay will severely Govt. of Aviation Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh impact on the National Security. The induction of MH-60R Romeo in Indian Grandslam Developers (P) Ltd. Navy in 2021 will provide the service with a tremendous capability that is ready HATSOFF for operations immediately upon delivery. Heligo Charters (P) Ltd. Notwithstanding the gloomy picture related to the civil helicopter fleet, we Heritage Aviation (P) Ltd. in RWSI are hopeful that some firm steps will be taken by concerned Authorities Himalayan Heli Services (P) Ltd. to bring down high cost of civil helicopter operations and help boosting domestic Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. demand. Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. VTOL RPAVs - RWSI has recently amended its objective to include the growth VTOL Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicles (RPAVs) for use in civil in India. Hitech Insurance Broking Services Ltd. Already, very highly qualified RPAV professionals have joined the RWSI Drone Honeywell International Inc. Group. Indocopters (P) Ltd. Contribution of RWSI. RWSI is proud of being a nodal agency in promoting India Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd. efficient and safe Conduct of Civil Helicopter Op in India. Its contribution in India Flysafe Aviation Ltd. 2020 are detailed at page 5. Indra Air (P) Ltd. On behalf of Editorial Team, let me thank the Readers for supporting us in ITC The Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru bringing out this publication. Yours sincerely Jaiprakash Group JK Risk Managers and Insurance Brokers Ltd. With warm regards, JMD Consultant (P) Ltd. Jubilant Enpro India Ltd. Jupiter Aviations (P) Ltd. AVM K Sridharan VM (G) Editor-in-Chief

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Dear Sir, Distance from BBB, even though these navigation points are also known by Our Deep Gratitude to Helicopter Pilots flying between their names, and precious VHF channel CORPORATE MEMBERS and and in Maharashtra time can be saved by just mentioning experience many operational the name of the place such as Powai, difficulties. One of them is RCP, DAKC or Panvel or Race Course Kestrel Aviation (P) Ltd. communication. etc. For that Air Traffic Controllers in Kiaan Airways (P) Ltd The K routes are still being flown Mumbai and Juhu ATC have to have a Leonardo-Finmeccanica at 500 ft and 700 ft AMSL. Even though visual picture of the routes available to Lord India Pvt Ltd they are supposed to be flown AGL, all them, which it appears they presently L-3Harris helicopters operating on ‘On-shore K do not have. Mak Airways (P) Ltd. routes’ fly with reference to local QNH, Many times Juhu controllers pass Martin Consulting thereby invariably below the minimum traffic information not relevant to the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. stipulated vertical separation from route being flown. One gets an terrain and obstructions. Flying at 500 Merlinhawk Associates (P) Ltd. impression that Juhu ATC is not aware Mesco ft altitude in area with hill features and of flight path being followed by a tall buildings and obstructions is helicopter, thereby advising the pilot Navayuga Engineering Co Ltd. unsafe, firstly due to inadequate about other helicopter traffic, even Navnit Aviation (P) Ltd. vertical separation from terrain and though the other traffic has no potential Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. secondly, there are many points on the for conflict. OSS Aviation (P) Ltd. route when it is impossible to have VHF OSS Air Management (P) Ltd. contact with Juhu, due to obstructions. Helicopterspilots operating on ‘On- shore K routes around Mumbai’ must Orient Flight School For last over three years,it has watch out as, ‘there is an accident Orbit Aviation (P) Ltd. been discussed in Regional Operators’ waiting to happen’ unless VHF Oxford Enterprises (P) Ltd. Conferences held at at AAI office repeaters are installed at vantage points Offshore Aviation Consultants India (P)Ltd. Mumbaithat the altitudes for K-Routes and RTcommunication is streamlined. will be revised upwards to 700 ft and Ltd. 900 ft AGL. But there has been no Single engine, single pilot operation Prabhatam Aviation (P) Ltd. change in the decade old AIP is most affected by the above Ramco Systems Ltd. (AIPS_2010_09.pdf (aai.aero). Due to mentioned factors as the lone pilot has Raymond Aviation Ltd. its line of sight nature, VHF to change frequency and talk to 5 Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd. communication with Juhu is not different Air Traffic Controllers, talk to Reliance Transport & Travels Ltd. possible in many segments of On- other traffic and also look out for birds and other traffic. RITES Ltd. shore K routes and on Pune-Mumbai Right Choice Aviation Pvt. Ltd flights. Helicopters at or below 1500 ft May I request you to kindly attract altitude between 15 NMs and 25 NMs the attention of Manager ATM Rolls-Royce India Ltd. from BBB VOR are not able to get (WR) to this very critical problem. Royal Bhutan Helicopter Services Ltd.(Bhutan) through to Juhu, and on occasions, Another important issue is the Russian Helicopters, Joint Stock Company even to Mumbai Radar, especially on mind-set of the local administration in Sandriver Technologies Pvt. Ltd in-bound flights from North, South and Maharashtra that any helicopter flying SAR Aviation Services (P) Ltd. East of Mumbai. Of all the ATCCs, in Maharashtra needs the permission Sakhanpur Farm communication with Indian Naval Air of the District Collector and Senior (P) Ltd. (Nepal) Station, Shikrais the best as Naval ATC Superintendent of Police before Sikorsky-United Technologies Ltd. has good transmission and reception undertaking the flight. While state range. Simm Samm Airways (P) Ltd. government helicopter has no such Skyone Airways (P) Ltd. In addition, there is a lot of un- requirement, all other helicopters are (P) Ltd. important information being conveyed expected to give a week’s notice to the or sought by Juhu ATC. Even though District Head Quarters. The letter from SRK Aviacom (I) (P) Ltd. planned flights in IMC are co-ordinated SecyMOCA that helicopters do not Survival Systems India (P) Ltd. with Juhu ATC and Pune ATC prior to require to obtain permission of the local Silver Jubilee Traveller Ltd. departure, every time one gets airborne, administration and may only notify Statkraft India Private Ltd the formality of REQEST SPECIAL details of their flights, has had no effect Tata Power Company Ltd. VFR and SPECIAL VFR APPROVED as the State Government has not T A Jets Pvt Ltd ritual has to be gone through, conveyed the contents of this letter to Thakur Institute of Aviation Technology consuming a lot of time on the channel. their District Collectors. How can Third Dimension Advisory One has to be lucky to get helicopters operate if every flight has Trans Bharat Aviation (P) Ltd. to be planned one week in advance? JuhuATC to answer one’s call in the Travian Flight Services (P) Ltd. first instance. It appears that a May I request you to draw the Turbomeca India Engines (P) Ltd. helicopter pilot has to first make a call attention of Director, Civil Aviation, only to activate JuhuATC into Government of Maharashtra. United Helicharters (P) Ltd. Unique Aviation Services (P)Ltd. readiness. The operational Best wishes. Anonymous communication is possible only on UTair India (P) Ltd. second call. Dear Sir, UTC Aerospace Systems (P) Ltd. All helicopter pilotsfollow the The matter will be taken up with Varman Aviation (P) Ltd. practice of giving calls over reporting concerned authorities as soon as VELTech Dr.RR & Dr.SR Technical University points with reference to Radial and possible. Woodstock Helicopters Pvt Ltd. Editor

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Record of discussion on the Meeting held with MOCA regarding issues Affecting Helicopter Operations. A meeting was held on 30.09.2020 Representative of AAI stated that this policy has been at 1500 hours under the chairpersonship formulated considering limited space available at many of of Smt.Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, the airports. The Chairperson requested to review and MoCA regarding the issues affecting simplify procedures after carrying out due diligence. helicopter operations. 3. Offshore IFR Operations. The officials from civil aviation Representative of RWSI stated that the helicopters have authorities who participated in the been engaged in offshore operation for over four decades meeting included Shri Raj Kanwar, West of Mumbai Airport, on VFR flight plan in IMC Director, Air Transport, DGCA, Shri Ravi condition. With 24 to 27 machines engaged in two to three Krishna, Jt DG, Shri A K Pathak, Member Planning, AAI, flights per day, this is surely not a safe environment. Though Shri Anil Gupta ED, (LM & BD), AAI,DGCA,Shri Ajit Yadav the machines & aircrew are licensed by regulator for IFR (DTL, DGCA),Capt. Umesh Chandra Yadav, Dy CFOI (H), operations they continue to 609321/2020/DT Section- DGCA,Capt. Amit Garg FOI(H), DGCA,Shri A K Meena ED, MOCA operate in VFR in IMC condition under a VFR Flight AAI,Shri A P Singh, Jt. Director, BCAS,Shri Vineet Gulati, Plan. He further suggested to set up VHF repeater stations Member (ANS), AAI, Shri Pradeep, BCAS. to enable continuous communication up to 120 miles, The representatives from the Industry included Shri M introduce ADS-B and provide a dedicated controller to S Boora GM PHL,AVM K Sridharan, President, RWSI,Wg handle offshore helicopter traffic. Cdr B S Singh Deo, Vice President, RWSI,Capt. Rajat Kaura, Representative of AAI stated that the services to Director Projects, RWSI,Shri R N Johri, Member, RWSI, Capt. provide Space based ADS-B is ready to become operational Uday Gelli, President, RWSI (Western Region),Wg Cdr V P from 01 Jan 2021. However, such services would be effective Mathur, Member RWSI, Smt Kalpana Dhar, Director (Admin only if helicopters are also equipped with ADS-B. It was & Finance), RWSI and Gp Capt. RK Bali, MD BAOA. suggested that helicopters operating offshore must be Following agenda points were discussed during the equipped with such equipment. Chairperson suggested that meeting:- a meeting with ONGC could be arranged to discuss this Airports Authority of India (AAI) issues matter where Member, ANS, AAI could also be invited for indicating requirements. They will look at the possibility of 1. Rising cost of Airport charges in terms of hangar setting up the repeater station at one of the platforms (BLQ and land rentals. 1) as and when covid pandemic comes to an end. The Representative of RWSI suggested to consider ground equipment should be installed. reduction in these charges and waive 6 months charges 4. Create Heliport Division within AAI. due to current Covid situation. Further, highest rents in Juhu airport needs to be rationalised. Representative of RWSI stated that more heliports need to be created to promote last mile connectivity. A heliport Representative of AAI stated that the rates for Land, division with Flight Procedure Design specialists to design Hangar and Space are fixed as per policy guidelines. Any PINS approaches would help facilitates the move. This fiscal issues such as waivers / reduction will need to be division could also help facilitate creation of heliports in referred to the Member (Finance), AAI. Some concessions city centres at Metros and smart cities. Also rationalize have already been given such as freezing land rentals for a simultaneous flight operations at airport located at major period of 5 years i.e. from 2018 – 2023. However, for cities in the country. helicopter operation, RWSI may approach AAI for consideration. The Chairperson requested AAI to consider Representative of AAI stated that this point is noted the request of RWSI on receipt. and would take up the matter with higher authority. 2. Night Parking permission. 5. Simultaneous Non-Interfering Operations. Representative of RWSI stated that the permission from Representative of RWSI stated that helicopters should AAI may be dispensed with, since this clause is infructuous not be treated at par with fixed wing during approach and and meaningless, and which was originally meant for fixed landing. Procedures need to be evolved for simultaneous wing operations. This leads to delays while importing operations keeping safety in mind and air traffic controllers helicopters. Any short-term movement between bases is need to be educated on the same. Mostly helicopters are also affecting operations. Helicopters require a helipad to VFR flying and their first alternate is open field en-route. park and does not occupy huge area in tarmac space. This Hence actual reserve they have is 20 min + 10 minutes for procedure may, therefore done away with. Continuced on page-6

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Continuced from the page 4 EMS, Law Enforcement,Electronic News Gathering, Aerial work etc. alternate. At times ATC controllers take 20 to 30 minutes Representative of DGCA stated that RWSI may indicate after starting the engine for a VFR helicopter to takeoff, specifics and since this would require lengthy discussions, thereby burning all the reserve fuel. This is a big safety this matter could be discussed separately. issue. Hence controllers need to be educated that However, RWSI, if they have any proposal for helicopters after starting the engines should be given simplification, they could submit the same to DGCA for departure as per programme. This can be achieved by consideration. familiarisation training for controllers about the differences in these 2 types of aircraft. It helped when RWSI conducted 3. Procedure for implementation of CAP 3400 to be such training in Mumbai. simplified. Representative of AAI stated that they have created Representative of RWSI stated that the present helicopter corridors at high density airports which are like methodology of verification of compliance is causing too those existing at Mumbai and Delhi. Once these corridors much of confusion and delays. become operational, it is expected that helicopter operations Representative of DGCA stated that since the matter will be streamlined at all major airports. They accepted the would involve specifics and areas for improvement, it was suggestion by RWSI about specific training sessions being suggested by the Chairperson that DGCA will pursue this conducted for controllers at these airports for familiarisation separately. Shri Raj Kanwar, Director (AT) is nominated as of simultaneous operations of fixed wing aircraft and the nodal officer to discuss with the representatives of helicopters. RWSI and submit a proposal to DGCA for consideration. 6. Permissions for operations to temporary / one time 4. Helicopter Aircrew Licenses. use helipads to be made simple and practical. Representative of RWSI stated that the privileges of This will enable operators to undertake adhoc charters Commercial Pilots Licenses (Helicopters) were amended to received with short notice. bring them at par with ICAO standards way back in 2006. Representative of RWSI stated that Car section 4 - The ALTP (H) was not amended. The old legislation was Aerodrome standards& air traffic services, series ‘‘B”, part based on AUW of aircraft, while the present privileges are II dt 21/12/2005 stipulates permission from landowner and based on single or multi-crew. This has resulted in holder notify district authorities. Instead of notification, it is now of CPL(H) unable to exercise privileges as they impinge on changed to permissions which now take days to obtain the privileges of ALTP(H). A Committee formed by MoCA same. Charter requirement for helicopters come at short submitted report recommending change of privileges of all notice and therefore permissions to be time based if at all licenses to ICAO standards in 2017. The matter continues needed. to be unresolved at DGCA for Regulatory Approval. Representative of AAI stated that this was not within Representative of DGCA stated that they will review their purview as they have no control over permissions. the same and revert. This was discussed in detail and Chairperson suggested 5. E-GCA. that an SOP be prepared which would be circulated to all Representative of RWSI stated that routine matters at the State Governments. RWSI to prepare an SOP and submit time takes months to get a decision. Rolling out of E-GCA the same to MoCA for consideration and onward circulation for FSD Helicopters would help resolve the issue. Current to State Governments. RWSI to give a customize E-GCA roll out plan may be accordingly revised. Powers to presentation before Member, ANS, AAI airport wise on FOIs in region to take decision with in-situ DDGs would building safety and safety of helicopter. help resolve issues of timely decision making. Regulatory Issues Representative of DGCA stated that they are trying to 1. Operational issues should be approved at regional resolve the issues as soon as possible and specific instance offices by FOIs.posted in respective regions. All routine should be brought to their notice as soon as possible. matters also being referred to HQ in Delhi is adding to CSTM service has been rolled out and others are in pipeline. delays. Chairperson directed that implementation of Electronic Representative of DGCA stated that it was explained system is a must and has been introduced to overcome the that the current strength of FOIs is limited due to many hurdles being faced by the industry. Therefore, everyone FOIs have retired in the recent past. The recruitment for must follow this system as there is no way of going back to FOIs is already underway and it is expected that they will the old system. However, it was suggested that DGCA set be in place by mid-December after which the situation up a helpline with a qualified person to attend to all technical should improve. issues pertaining to uploading of documents, technical glitches etc. 2. Need to simplify / modify existing rules for helicopters to enable helicopters undertake a variety of roles such as 6. Creation of a Helicopter Cell within DGCA:

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Representative of RWSI stated that this point was in submit proposal spelling out the rules from FAA/CASA the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 (NCAP-2016). There Australia/EASA for examination and see how they can was a helicopter cell working well until 2012. Thereafter it is improve the quality of training and what can be done with almost non-existent. There is a requirement of dedicated the number of checks. He also explained that the ground helicopter cell within DGCA, which can process the school training is now made once in a lifetime, which was at decisions and approvals needed by helicopter industry a periodic interval earlier. DGCA is open to suggestions within a pre-determined timeframe. This requires not only a without compromising the safety. Chairperson suggested dedicated Helicopter cell under JDG but also a complete Capt. U.C Yadav to be the nodal officer for this subject and team of FOIs which can cover the complete industry in interact with RWSI on a periodic basis to sort out this issue. terms of types of helicopters and different operations. 9. Extend concessions given for undertaking various Further, he suggested that the Dy CFOI (H) may be checks of the pilots due to COVID-19 as pilots do not have asked to report directly to JDG for all the helicopter matters. access to Simulators located abroad. And if this is not working out, then Dy CFOI to be upgraded Representative of RWSI stated that it was given for 3 to CFOI(H). This Helicopter cell could be assisted by months and same may be extended for another 3 months. specialists from Airworthiness, Air Safety and ANS In the current scenario, foreign travel is difficult. Although directorates. Thus, there is an urgent need to revive between India and few countries bubble flights have started, dedicated Helicopter Cell in DGCA headed by JDG level there are strict 14 days quarantine measures practices by officer. those nations. Now with second wave of Corona virus Representative of DGCA informed that they have hitting Europe and UK, many countries are contemplating discussed this matter internally and they have proposed restricted lockdown again. Hence there is a danger of flights for the consideration of the DG(CA). The same will be getting cancelled and our crew getting stranded on foreign communicated as and when the approval is received. land. It is imperative that we facilitate flying especially on 7. Make FOIs available for use by the industry for the those helicopters which do not have simulators/ TRIs/TREs purpose of carrying out various checks of pilots as was in the country. done in the past Therefore, there is a need to extend validity of their Representative of RWSI stated that currently there are previous checks till foreign travel is eased. In case senior limited TRI/TREs on various types of helicopter. In fact, in pilots with previous OTA are available they should be a few types, there are no TRI/TRE available leading to allowed without restriction to carry out checks for other difficulty in operations and increase in overall operation pilots in the industry for a limited period of three months. If cost. Besides these, many a times operator must send flight the helicopters get grounded only for crew training, it will crew abroad and hence loss of revenue for the country. become impossible to survive thereby resulting in huge Making FOIs available will contribute to the growth of loss of jobs and livelihood of people. This extension has helicopter industry due to ease in operations and stop already been given in many parts of the world. For example, outflow of revenue abroad. This is a particularly important in UK, the extension has already been given till Nov 2020 point from Flight Safety perspective too, as there will be and will be extended on need basis. regular and unhindered check of flight crew from FOIs who Representative of DGCA informed that blanket have no market or commercial influence. Incidentally, this clearance cannot be given for all the checks, however, is a part of the (JD) job description as per DGCA. DGCA is open to consider the case by case request from Representative of DGCA informed that currently there the operator. Chairperson suggested that Shri C M Pandey is a shortage of FOIs and recruitment is under way. Once be appointed as nodal officer to handle this issue for speedy this recruitment is done, this point will be taken care. Pending clearances of the OTAs/approvals. this if there is any specific request from the industry the 10. Set a target orientated time schedules for clearing same may besubmitted for consideration. files within DGCA. 8. Frequency of checks to be brought in line with those Representative of RWSI stated that under present followed by EASA/FAA/CASA Australia system, operators and individual’s files are kept pending Representative of RWSI stated that too many checks without ascribing any reason. Although each process and are being asked to be carried out by the aircrew in India. time taken has already been defined in DGCA charter, Every six months is Prof check whereas in FAA/EASA/ however the same on ground does not exist. This is because CASA Australia it is once in a year. Route check in India is any observation and clearance of the same has not been to be done every year whereas in FAA system it is once in defined. Hence any delay in processing is attributed to two years. If the pilot is not flying regularly then such pilot observations and delay in clearance by the operators. The will need to undergo frequently. We must implement similar onus of clearance of the file needs to be on both operators rules in our country. and DGCA dealing staff. He further suggested that regional DGCA’s should be responsible to help getting clearances Representative of DGCA suggested that RWSI may

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 7 <> of operators within the region. Region officials understand industry body, operators, individuals etc. The modalities the operators well and hence can implement requirements for such meetings will be worked out jointly by DGCA and much better. He also suggested that rule be implemented RWSI. that if the reply is not received within 15 days, the file to be BCAS issues considered as approved. This is currently being practiced 1. Representative of RWSI stated that to encourage for the most sensitive document that is passport and the new ab-initio students to get experience on the isworking well for past so many years. helicopter and its sub systems, they need to have access Representative of DGCA informed that e-GCA will make to the airport. In absence of the AEP it becomes exceedingly sure that these delays will be avoided. However, RWSI difficult for the operator to provide the apprenticeship or should take it up with another forum. Operators are welcome ab-initio training to develop the second line. He requested to put up their issues and will clear on fast track basis. The to permit reasonable number of AEPs for the helicopter Chairperson advised to interact with RWSI officials on operators and maintenance agencies at various airports. In weekly/fortnightly basis to resolve the issues. fact, if the procedure and system for issue of AEP is followed 11. Cumbersome procedure in complying with DGCA there should not be any restriction on the number of AEPs rules in getting endorsement on NSOP of helicopters to be issued. imported into India. Representative of BCAS informed that due to security Representative of RWSI stated that helicopter is reasons some company or institute will have to take the different from a fixed wing aircraft. More than 99% helicopter responsibility of the candidates. Hence the clause of having do not have a cabin crew. None of the helicopter is the agreement with the institute is in accordance with the exclusively available in India for Cargo operations. Also AEP guidelines 9.3.8. To this point the RWSI representative helicopter operators do not accept dangerous goods. informed that the respective organisation takes the onus Besides this, basic manuals such as MMEL, flight manual, and responsibility of the individual by applying to the operations and procedure etc. are all rigidly incorporated BCAS and hence the requirement is taken care. But imposing by operator as per OEM. In above scenario MEL, the restrictions on the numbers is not a good step. Operations, Cabin safety and Dangerous goods approval Therefore, it must be reviewed especially considering all time must be curtailed to a few days which currently take the requirements for issue of AEP are followed, including months to get across. Helicopter industry needs a push to security clearance of the individual. Chairperson also expand and come out of the negative growth cycle. He suggested RWSI to indicate what type of people for suggested that the biggest factor which can boost the consideration for AEP and submit proposal to BCAS to growth will be ease of import and implementation of consider. procedures for quick approvals and endorsement of 2. Representative of RWSI informed that currently there machines on NSOP. Further, he stated that requirement of is a rule to renew the security manual of the NSOP operator MEL approvals for each helicopter may be abolished and every five years. This process takes more than a year with formalities may be reduced to facilitate completion of NSOP constant follow-ups. When there is no change in the endorsement in 5-7 days. security setup and regular annual security audits are done, The Chairperson suggested that Mr Raj Kanwar be there is no need to keep renewal time for the Security manual. appointed as Nodal officer to address this issue and involve This is a major constraint which needs attention to be the RWSI to have series of periodic meeting to see how addressed. and what can be removed which is amounting to duplication The Chairperson informed that there is an internal team and delays in processing the NSOP endorsement. If a lot of working on how to work in tandem and not having to wait work can be done parallel, it must be done including the for each stage of approval. Representative of BCAS security clearance, approval of BCAS manual or any other informed that this is a requirement of ICAO to have he such document. renewal of the Security manual every five years. Chairperson Chairperson also advised DGCA to set up a joint task suggested RWSI to give some good global practices from team to investigate the matters pertaining to Licences, CAP other countries for consideration. 3400, Rules governing aerial work etc. The team will invite The VC meeting ended with Vote of Thanks to the suggestion from industry and have fortnightly meeting with Chair and all the participants.

RWSI’S COMMITTEES EXIST FOR THE BENEFIT OF ITS MEMBERS Join the Committee to Strengthen our Work If you are a Life Member, Volunteer your Services. For more information call RWSI at 0120 -4252346, 4252347 Email: [email protected] web: www.rwsi.co.in

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Tom Kane, Director, Sikorsky Naval Helicopter Programs Responds to Rotor India Questions

1. Lockheed Martin has been present in India for over three decades now. During this time, what have been your active programs for the ? Indeed, Lockheed Martin has partnered with India for more than three decades, working with the Indian armed forces, industry, and other key stakeholders. We have been committed to advance the strategic security and industrial capability of the country, and support government initiatives such as Make in India, Skills India and other MH-60R aircraft operating in the Indo-Pacific region. Atmanirbhar Bharat among others. Additionally, the aircraft equips the Indian Navy with Currently, we have one active program for the Indian immediate multi-mission capability and effectiveness Navy (IN)—the MH-60R Helicopter program.India’s For example, the MH-60R brings unrivaled Anti- selection of the MH-60R “Romeo” multi-mission helicopter Submarine Warfare (ASW) benefits which include nearly provides the Indian Navy with the most advanced anti- 1.5 times on mission endurance time, larger search areas surface/anti-submarine warfare helicopter in operation and greater threat detection capabilities in comparison to today. The MH-60R offers the lowest risk and best value other ASW aircraft option because the aircraft is already in full production and globally supportable. The MH-60R provides a vital Its versatility enables it to do a huge variety of capability in the Indo-Pacific region and equips the Indian missions, and its integrated systems create a picture of Navy with a tremendous capability that is ready for complete situational awareness and actionable knowledge operations immediately upon delivery. for the pilots Additionally, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, The MH-60R brings a mature sustainment program, responded to the request for Expression of Interest (EOI) by leveraging the current USN Performance Based Logistics for the India Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) program. We (PBL). look forward to providing this capability to the Government The IN will also benefit from the ongoing support of India and remain committed to fostering technology provided for more than 300 MH-60Rs in operation around development, manufacturing and strategic collaboration in the world today, including a low-cost path to participate in India while maintaining high-value, high-skill technical jobs future upgrades as the undersea threat continues to grow in the U.S., abroad and across our supply base.We strongly MH-60R is gaining momentum across the globe, feel globally structured programs like this one create unique with India being the 5th country after U.S., Australia, opportunities for knowledge-sharing and technology Denmark, and Saudi Arabia to select the helicopter for its transfer that strengthen the industries of all involved. 2. Why is MH-60R helicopter the right fit for the needs of the Indian Navy? The MH-60R is world’s most advanced anti-surface/ anti-submarine warfare helicopter in operation today. For India specifically, here is why the MH-60R is such a good fit:

The MH-60R offers the lowest risk and best value option because it has an active production line and is globally supportable

The MH-60R will bring a substantial and important increase in maritime security in the region in coalition with

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 9 <> maritime defense needs

Recently, the government of Greece also signed a deal with United States government to acquire four MH- 60R helicopters for the Hellenic Navy

Current customers are now the U.S., Australia, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, India& Greece 3. Can you please shed some more light upon the maritime capabilities of the MH-60R helicopter? As the world’s most advanced maritime security helicopter, the MH-60R has unmatched multi-mission capabilities: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) / Anti-Surface (ASuW); Special Operations / Search & Rescue (SAR); Utility /Vertical Replenishment (VERTREP); and Command and Control (C2). The aircraft’s fully integrated mission system also builds complete situational awareness and between Lockheed Martin and certain Indian companies. actionable knowledge, enabling target engagement both close-in and over-the-horizon. The helicopter also has Lockheed Martin looks forward to working ever-closely unrivaled Anti-Submarine Warfare benefits that includes with Indian customers and industry, via the Government of nearly 1.5 times longer mission endurance time, larger search India’s Self-Reliant India/ Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in areas and greater threat detection capabilities. Along with India/ Investment in Manufacturing initiatives, to become higher availability rates, ease of maintenance activities and the partner of choice for both. extremely less expensive operating costs, the MH-60R 5. When will the first batch of MH-60R helicopters brings advanced and immediate advantages to the Indian be delivered to India? Has the programme been affected Navy. due to the COVID-19 pandemic? 4. How does Indian aerospace and defense industry The delivery of the first batch of MH-60R helicopters stand to benefit from the MH-60R deal? to the Indian Navy will commence by mid-year 2021. Thus Through the India MH-60R program, Lockheed Martin far, COVID-19 has had no impact on the MH-60R India is excited to work with Indian companies to further develop contract except for the general inability to meet face-to- long-term potential business relationships. Doing so will face with our various program stakeholders. We have been provide benefits for all parties which may persist well utilizing virtual meetings in lieu of in person ones. We stand beyond after the initial industrial commitment is fulfilled. committed to supporting the Indian Navy to realize its As evidenced during this summer’s virtual India Suppliers modernization vision. Conference 2020, Lockheed Martin met with companies from across India in an effort to learn more about India’s defense industrial capabilities and to seek opportunities for Indian companies to participate in Lockheed Martin’s global supply chains. This event was a critical first step to identify potential long-lasting business relationships and resulted in follow-on engagements

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and RM Shri Rajnath Singh greet air warriors on 88th Air Force Day The proudly celebrated its 88th anniversary on 08 Oct 2020. A scintillating air display by various aircraft was the hallmark of the Air Force Day Parade cum Investiture Ceremony at Air Force Station Hindan (Ghaziabad). The air display commenced with flag bearing sky divers of the famous AKASH GANGA Team dropping out of an AN-32 aircraft in their colourful canopies, at 0800 hours.The flypast included the vintage aircraft, modern transport aircraft and frontline fighter aircraft. The ceremony concluded with a spell binding aerobatic display. Shri Ram Nath Kovind, President of India said, “On Air Force Day, we proudly honour our air warriors, veterans, and families of the Indian Air Force. The nation remains indebted to the contribution of the IAF in securing our skies and assisting civil authorities in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief” Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi sent many congratulations to all the brave warriors of the Indian Air Force on Air Force Day. His message said ,“You not only keep the skies of the country safe but also play a leading role in the service of humanity in times of disaster. Your courage, valour, and dedication to protecting Mother India are inspiring everyone”. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has conveyed best wishes to the air warriors and their families on the occasion of 88th Air Force Day-2020 of Indian Air Force (IAF) here today. He said in a message, “Eighty-eight years of dedication, sacrifice and excellence mark the journey of the IAF which is today a lethal and formidable force to reckon with.” "My congratulations to all air warriors... RKS Bhadauria, the Chief of Air Staff said, in his address at the Parade ,“On behalf of the air warriors I world like to assure all Indians that the Indian Air Force is ever ready to guard our borders. As we enter the 89th year, the IAF is undergoing a transformational change. We are entering an era which will redefine where we employ aerospace power and conduct integrated multi- domain operations”. IAF’s Chinook Helicopter Airlifts Crashed Mi-17 From Kedarnath The fuselage of the IAF’s Mi-17 helicopter which had crashed after a collision with an iron girder at Kedarnath helipad in Uttrakhand during 2018 was lifted under slung by a Chinook helicopter of the IAF and taken to Chandigarh Air Force base. Preparations for this under slung operation had been on for over two weeks. Chinooks have been playing an important part in providing logistic air support at the frontlines amid the ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh .Based at the Air Force Station in Chandigarh, these helicopters are capable of lifting around 11 tonnes of cargo or 45 fully armed troops.The Chinooks can also carry underslung payloads like the M777 ultra-light howitzer, a 155 mm artillery gun inducted for use along the China front.

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Air Chief Reviews LCH Programme, takes a Sortie

Bengaluru, November 20, 2020: Air Chief Marshal RKS at the important flying characteristics and status of sensors Bhadauria, Chief of the Air Staff undertook his maiden flight already installed. The LCH is a potent platform due to in HAL designed and developed Light Combat Helicopter excellent D&D efforts and well supported flight test team. (LCH) here today. The aircraft took to the skies at 11.45 The IAF is keenly looking forward to the induction of this hours and remained airborne for an hour. The CAS was aircraft and I am sure HAL will give required focus on accompanied by HAL’s Deputy Chief Test Pilot, Wg Cdr productionisation at a fast pace”. (Retd) S P John. Mr. R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, thanked the Air Chief While thanking all stake holders of LCH project, the and said that HAL is geared up for productionisation of Air Chief said “It was a very good sortie. I was able to look LCH to meet all the requirements of the Air Force.

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IAF for Short-term Leasing of Trainer Aircraft and Light Utility Helicopters

Air Marshal Sandeep Singh AVSM developed by HAL, has completed development trials and VM Deputy Chief of Air Staff IAF its limited series development is expected to begin soon. The recently released Defence Speaking at the webinar, Vice Chief of Navy Vice Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 Ashok Kumar said the Navy was looking to lease allows leasing of military platforms.The operational support assets and auxiliaries to enhance Indian Air Force (IAF) is therefore operational capabilities and avoid huge investments in looking at leasing training aircraft and manning and maintaining them. “The Indian Navy is Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) for planning to lease certain assets in the medium term to short duration till the indigenous mitigate critical operational capability gap”. platforms under development are inducted into service.This On leasing of mid-air refuellers, Air Marshal Singh said was stated by Air Marshal Sandeep Singh Deputy Chief that even before the DAP-2020 was issued, they had sent Air Staff said at a webinar organised by the Federation of out preliminary RFIs for wet and dry lease of such aircraft. Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on 18 Nov 20 “We have good inputs for both options and we are in the The IAF is in the process of sending out Request for process of analysing the options for making the Statement Information (RFI) for leasing trainer aircraft for relatively of Case (SoC),” he noted. short period,” A.The IAF is already exploring options of The IAF presently has six Russian IL-78 tankers and leasing mid-air refuelling aircraft, which it is in urgent need has been looking to procure six new aircraft but the deal of.With Kiran trainers being obsolete and indigenous HTT- has been repeatedly delayed. Air Marshal Singh said that 40 being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited broadly wet lease of platforms could be used for peacetime (HAL) in advanced trails, the IAF is looking to plug the use and dry leasing for operational requirements. The gaps for a short term through leasing. About 20-30 aircraft Services were also exploring options of leasing Unmanned could be leased for 4-5 years. The indigenous LUH, being Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and surveillance aircraft. Chinese Military Mi-171 Helicopters Sighted with ‘ECM Pods’ For the first time, the Chinese military has released images an Army Aviation Brigade under the PLA 73rd Group Army, of its helicopters carrying dedicated electronic according to a Chinese portal. countermeasures or ECM pods under stub wings. The However, the use of ECM suites on the Mi-17 family of exercise was conducted by the People’s Liberation Army helicopters is not new. Major operators of the platform have Ground Force (PLAGF) recently.The helicopters appear to developed and deployed their own electronic warfare (EW) be the Mi-171 series medium multirole rotorcrafts, and suites on the helicopters. Russia itself has developed many according to reports, they were used during a ‘penetration EW variants of the Mi-17.On 18 November, the Chinese flight-training exercise,’ aimed at practicing infiltration into site also posted information about rather interesting news hostile airspace. of a UAV assisting a helicopter to launch a missile at The ECM pods help in the detection and jamming of beyond-visual-range targets, a significant enhancement of enemy radar signals, help preventing the detection or operational capabilities for the service. The drill was interception of the aircraft by jamming signals related to conducted under the PLA’s 71st Group Army. incoming missiles. The ECM pods also prevent radars to get a ‘lock,’ against AAA (anti-aircraft artillery) systems and other offensive equipment. The ECM suites can either be used as separate attachment pods (like in this case) or embedded into the airframe.While the location of these exercises conducted by the PLA have not disclosed, the report pointed out that the exercise was carried out on 11 November, and also involved the participation of Z-10 attack helicopters used by the PLA’s ground force.The Mi-171 shown carrying the pods on its stub-wings is assigned to

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Annual Flight Safety Trophy Awarded to Army Aviation Unit Deployed in and Kashmir Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Flight Safety Trophy has been instituted to promote the efforts towards flight safety among Aviation Corps units tendering decisive combat edge to the force commanders. This trophy is presented to Squadron, Independent flights adjudged first amongst units of Army Aviation Corps in aspects related to ensuring and promoting flight safety. Army Aviation being a highly technical arm which operates in the third dimension, flight safety assumes paramount importance in both peace and operations. This award includes assessment by field formation commanders, accident / incident record of the unit maintenance norms, implementation of practices and recordable deeds directly in operation along the line of control and counter insurgency enhancing flight safety. settings in Kashmir valley. Chief of Army Staff, Gen MM For the year 2019-20, 663 Army Aviation Squadron Naravane presented the COAS, Flight Safety Trophy to deployed in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir has Commanding Officer &Subedar Major of the unit on the been adjudged first. This Squadron is one of the oldest concluding day of the Army Commanders’ Conference. Squadrons of Army Aviation and has been actively involved The Army Version of LUH is now ready for initial Operational Clearance In the last issue of our publication, we covered about LUH is a new generation helicopter in the 3-Ton class the Army version of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) incorporating the state of the art technology features like developed indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Glass cockpit with Multi-Function Displays (MFD) and having completed its hot and high weather conditions flight powered by single Turbo Shaft engine with sufficient power trials at Leh, 3,300 meters above sea level, in temperatures margin to cater to demanding high altitude missions. LUH up to ISA+32 degrees centigrade. It also demonstrated its will meet the emerging needs in this class of helicopters in hot and high hover performance at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), the coming decades. the world’s highest Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) The helicopter will be capable of flying at 220 Kmph; situated at an altitude of 5,000 meters. During the trials, service ceiling of 6.5 Km and a range of 350 Km with 500 kg pilots also landed the helicopter at some of the world’s payload. highest helipads like Amar and Sonam. The LUH can accommodate two credit members and six passengers and reach altitudes up to 6,600 meters. After the trials, R Madhavan, CMD HAL told the media that “HAL has once again proved its indigenous capability in design and development. The Army version of LUH is now ready for Initial Operational Clearance”. The flights were carried out by a composite trial team which included pilots from HAL, Wg Cdr Unni Pillai, the chief test pilot (rotary wing), Wg Cdr Anil Bhambani, Gp Capt Pupinder Singh and Gp Capt V Panwar along with Gp Capt R Dubey and Sq Ldr Joshi from the Indian Air Force and Lt Col R Grewal and Lt Col Pawan from the Indian Army. LUH is designed and developed by HAL as a replacement for Cheetah & Chetak helicopters which are being operated by Indian Armed forces.

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 17 <> Army Aviation Corps At 35 By Lt Gen B S Pawar PVSM AVSM (V), Ex ADG, Army Aviation

Introduction Today the fledgling arm of the Indian Army, the Army Aviation Corps (AAC) celebrates its 35th raising day. However, even at the end of these 34 years of its birth, the so called ‘Arm of the Future’ of the Army continues to fly the outdated, vintage and accident prone fleet of Cheetah/ Chetak helicopters. These helicopters were inducted in the late sixties and are not only less efficient but also unsafe for flying but continue to fall out of the Sky at regular intervals, resulting in loss of precious lives and equipment. The latest in this sordid saga is the fatal crash of the Cheetah helicopter in September this year while on an operational training sortie in Bhutan, in which both the Pilots died, one being from the Royal Bhutan Army. This will go down as another statistical data in the records of MoD with business as usual, with no urgency being displayed to replace these very significant steps towards the growth and flying coffins – The Project to replace them with 200 Ka- modernisation of the Aviation Corps. It is notable that 226T Russian helicopters is stuck on issues of price and despite initial teething problems of the ALH, the AAC was technology transfer despite all relevant aspects having been the first to induct these indigenously developed machines concluded a year back. In these circumstances it goes to and today has an inventory of approximately 80-90 Dhruv’s the credit of this highly professional arm and its officers - this fleet is expected to grow further in the coming years. and men, who continue to fly these outdated and unsafe On the flip side the Government’s policy on the ownership machines under the most punishing and difficult of AH remains muddled and confused and the Aviation environments of terrain and weather, in the SIACHEN Corps for far too long has been denied its legitimate GLACIER the highest battlefield in the world and Eastern requirements of Medium and Heavy Lift Helicopters to Ladakh Region the area of the current standoff with China. enhance its tactical lift and special operations capabilities. It is in recognition of this devotion, dedication and service A reality check clearly shows that the growth of this battle to the Nation that this battle tested Corps was bestowed winning ‘Arm of the Future’ is nowhere near what was with the highest military honour on 10th October 2019 with envisioned by the Army in 1963. Today it lacks the requisite presentation of the ‘Presidents Colours’ at Nasik by the firepower, manoeuvre and assault capability in terms of President of India. The ceremony was held and conducted attack and lift helicopters. under the aegis of the Combat Army Aviation Training It will be worthwhile to point out that both our School (CAATS) located at Nasik – 10th October 2019 will adversaries China and Pakistan have a very potent and indeed go down in the annals of Army Aviation history as effective air arm in their respective armies. The Pakistan a red letter day. Army Aviation has in its inventory the likes of Mi-17 and However despite the crucial Cheetah/Chetak Chinook helicopters in the medium/ heavy lift category and replacement programme floundering, the last 34 years has the MI-25/MI-35 and Huey Cobras in the armed/ attack seen the Army Aviation undergo a major transformational helicopters category. The latest reports indicate that and organisational change in terms of structures, equipment Pakistan has signed a contract with Turkey for the profile and employment philosophy, though critical acquisition of 30 x T129 ATAK state of art attack helicopters operational voids and gaps remain. The Government being manufactured indigenously in Turkey, under licence clearance for acquisition of six state of art Apache Longbow from Italy’s Augusta Westland – the A129 ATAK is based Attack Helicopters (AH) for the Army (though initially 11 on Augusta Westland’s A129 Mangusta attack helicopter were approved), the induction of the HAL made ALH-Dhruv model and is already in service with the Turkish Military. helicopters in 2002, setting up of Army’s own pilot training This certainly leaves one wondering why the 1.3 million establishment CAATS and the creation and implementation strong Indian Army, the third largest in the world is still of the concept of the ‘Army Aviation Brigades’ are indeed fighting turf battles and justifying its requirement to suitably

18 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 <> equip and arm its air arm, in order to exploit its full potential (LUH). This is to cater to the light reconnaissance & in future conflicts. observation class of helicopters for all three services. As Present Status per HAL the LUH is expected to complete flight certification and go into production soon. The plans are to manufacture Presently the Army has in its inventory 300 plus 184 LUH in the new helicopter complex in Tumkur. Overall helicopters, majority being the light observation class there is requirement of almost 500 helicopters of the light (Cheetah and Chetak). These helicopters are obsolete and observation class, with Army’s requirement amounting to have been in service for more than 40 years. Keeping this approximately 280-300, which includes the replacement of fleet operational itself is becoming well-nigh impossible Chetak/Cheetah. due to its vintage and spares non availability/criticality, a fact accepted and corroborated by both HAL and the Army. In the utility/lift category 80 indigenously manufactured The ‘Cheetal’ helicopter (upgraded Cheetah) fielded by ALH have been inducted and operationalised and another HAL as an interim measure is not a satisfactory solution 60-70 are planned for induction in the coming decade -these for the long term, as the basic technology remains old and helicopters will provide tactical lift capability at the level of outdated – it basically has a more powerful engine with an Corps. upgraded gearbox to absorb the additional power, but the Another variant of the ALH is the armed version called airframe and numerous other features remain the same. the ‘Rudra’, which was officially handed over to the army In the light utility category, while the induction of the during the Aero India show in Feb 2013 – three units are ALH/Dhruv is making steady progress as brought out already operational and another under raising. Rudra is a earlier, there are serious serviceability and maintenance typical armed helicopter with an array of weapon systems issues which need to be addressed by the HAL on priority including gun, rockets, air to air missiles (French Mistral) to ensure optimal utilisation of this fleet, especially in high and air to ground missiles, along with a modern sighting altitudes. The ALH accident in Poonch Sector of J&K last system and integrated electronic warfare self – protection year with the Northern Army Boss on board, due to a likely suite. However, in its present configuration it has not been technical snag, bears testimony to this crucial factor. The integrated with a suitable ATGM, as the air version of Nag heavy and medium lift helicopters which form the core of ATGM ’Helina’, being developed by the Defence Research the Army’s tactical lift capability and bulk of attack and Development Organisation (DRDO) is not yet ready. helicopters remain with the Air force – their optimum The non availability of a suitable airborne ATGM will not operational employment is not possible in the present set only impact the operational capability of the Rudra but up. It is ironic that even the Armed Police Forces like the also the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) project of HAL. Border Security Force have a full fledged air arm which has The ATGM is the main weapon system of an armed/attack in its inventory the latest version of the Mi-17V5 helicopters. helicopter and without it the helicopter merely remains a gunship, inhibiting the exploitation of its full potential. This Future Perspective is an area of grave concern and needs to be addressed on The Government’s decision to go in for the induction priority by all stake holders concerned especially in view of 200 Russian Ka-226T helicopters in a Government to of the present situation in Ladakh – all previous efforts to Government agreement in 2014 was indeed a welcome step acquire a suitable ATGM ex import have come to a naught and move in the right direction. However, the progress on and DRDO has been grappling with this project for the last this crucial project has been tardy to say the least. Even two decades with no concrete results to show even today. five years after the agreement between the two Governments The army is also looking to acquire a suitable helicopter at the level of President Putin and Prime Minister Modi, the in the 10-12 ton class with stealth features for its Special contract has still not been signed. HAL is the nodal agency Operations Units, as well as enhancing its overall tactical along with Russian Helicopters for this project and as per lift capability. The HAL has been looking at the feasibility the agreement, 60 helicopters will be delivered in a fly away of a joint venture with a foreign vendor for a 10-12 ton class condition while the balance 140 will be manufactured in multirole helicopter whose variants would also be available India at HALs new facility at Tumkur, Karnataka. The to the Navy and Air force. Barring the mock-up shown in contract was to be signed last year, but there seems to Aero India-2017 there is no progress in sight. have been no progress on the same to date, highlighting India’s lethargic approach to the defence equipment With the decision of the MoD on the ownership issue acquisition process, even when it is operationally critical. of attack helicopters in Army’s favour in 2012, the Army Simultaneously, HAL has also undertaken the development had projected its own requirements of attack helicopters – and manufacture of a three ton class light utility helicopter 39 Apache Mk III for its Strike Corps. While initially 11

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Apaches were cleared by the Government for the Army, (DAC) has already cleared the limited series production based on the tactical and operational requirements of an (LSP) of 15 LCH, ten for the air force and five for the army attack helicopter unit, its recent decision to cut this down respectively. The LCH is a multirole combat helicopter with to only six Apache’s has left many military aviation the unique and distinct capability to operate at high professionals baffled – the employment philosophy of altitudes –an advantage over other attack helicopters in attack helicopters does not justify such numbers, though the world today. on the positive side this will give the Aviation Corps the Conclusion requisite experience to operate and maintain these state of While the AAC has seen significant capability art machines. While there is no doubt that the 22 Apaches development in the recent past the biggest challenge being inducted into the Air force will also be operationally remains the earliest replacement of the obsolete Cheetah/ available to the Army during conflict, the Government needs Chetak fleet. Any further delay will severely impact on the to address and clarify the ownership issue at the earliest – national security. The Government also needs to remove 22 Apaches have already been inducted into the Air force the ambiguity on the serious issue of ownership of attack and induction of the six for the Army is expected to helicopters to enable clarity in command and control and commence next year. their effective employment in battle. To make the Army The development of the LCH by HAL is indeed a Aviation a potent force capable of supporting operations landmark achievement, for the LCH is a state of art attack across the entire spectrum of conflict in the ‘Tactical Battle helicopter, with capability to operate at high altitudes (16000 Area’ it should have in its inventory attack and armed feet) and would meet the unique requirements of the Indian helicopters, heavy, medium and light utility helicopters for Army in the mountains. The LCH uses the technology of mobility and logistics and light observation helicopters. the existing ALH and its configurations except that the There also would be a need for specialized helicopters fuselage is suitably modified and streamlined for tandem suitably modified for special operations. With these crucial seating. Four prototypes of the LCH have completed pre - assets as part of its inventory the Army Aviation will truly induction trials and in Jan this year HAL declared that the evolve as a potent arm of the Indian Army, whereby its LCH is ready for operational induction after completing all combat potential is enhanced to the maximum. weapon integration tests. The Defence Acquisition Council

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Exercise Malabar-20 Concludes in Arabian Sea

The 24th edition of MALABAR maritime exercise, hosted by Indian Navy (IN) in two phases, concluded in the Arabian Sea on 20 Nov 20. Phase 1 of the exercise involving participation by Indian Navy (IN), United States Navy (USN), Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN), was conducted off in Bay of Bengal from 3- 6 November 2020. The second phase was conducted in the Arabian Sea from 17-20 November 2020. Phase-1 of MALABAR 2020 witnessed participation of Indian Navy units with United States Ship (USS) John S McCain, Her Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) Ballarat with integral MH- 60 helicopter, and Japan Maritime Self Defence Ship (JMSDF) Onami, with integral SH-60 helicopter. Indian Navy’s participation in this phase was led by Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding and included destroyer Ranvijay, indigenous frigate Shivalik, Offshore Patrol Vessel Sukanya, Fleet Support Ship Shakti, submarine Sindhuraj, P8I and Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft and Advanced Jet Trainer Hawk. During Phase 2 of Exercise MALABAR 2020, the four navies participated in joint operations centered Talwar, Fleet Support Ship Deepak and the integral on the Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group of the Indian Navy helicopters of these warships, indigenously built submarine and Nimitz Carrier Strike Group of the US Navy. The two Khanderi and P8I and IL-38 maritime reconnaissance aircraft. aircraft carriers, along with other ships, submarine and aircraft of the participating navies, engaged in high intensity In addition to ‘Dual Carrier’ operations, advanced naval operations including cross-deck flying operations surface and anti-submarine warfare exercises, seamanship and advanced air defence exercises by MIG 29K fighters of evolutions and weapon firings were also undertaken during Vikramaditya and F/A-18 fighters and E2C Hawkeye from both phases of MALABAR 2020, demonstrating the Nimitz. US Navy’s Strike Carrier Nimitz was accompanied synergy, coordination and inter-operability between the by cruiser Princeton and destroyer Sterett in addition to four friendly navies. P8A maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Royal Australian The Malabar series of exercises, which began as an Navy and JMSDF were represented by frigate Ballarat and annual bilateral naval exercise between India and the US in destroyer Murasame respectively, along with their integral 1992, has seen increasing scope and complexity over the helicopters. years. The 24th edition of MALABAR, conducted in a ‘non- Indian Navy’s participation in Phase 2 was led by Rear contact at sea only’ format in the backdrop of COVID-19 Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Flag Officer Commanding pandemic, was reflective of the commitment of the and included aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, participating countries to support a free, open, inclusive indigenous destroyers and Chennai, stealth frigate Indo-Pacific as well as a rules-based international order.

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CNS Reviews Operational Readiness At Sea Admiral , the Chief of the Naval Staff providing medical and logistics assistance to our friendly (CNS), reviewed the operational preparedness and combat- neighbours in the IOR, as part of ‘Mission SAGAR’. He readiness of the Indian Navy’s principal combatants on 22 expressed satisfaction at the high levels of motivation and October 2020. reiterated that the Indian Navy has the best human capital CNS accompanied by Flag Officer Commanding-in- manning our platforms. Chief , Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar, Giving an overview of the prevailing security situation, arrived at Karwar Naval Base where he interacted with he stated that the Navy would continue maintaining a high- personnel and emphasised key issues of repairs, tempo of operations in coming months. He also maintenance, spares support and op-logistics for afloat complimented the Carrier Battle Group and its combatants units to sharpen their war-fighting capabilities. He also for accurate and effective weapon firings, which left no reiterated aspects of cyber-security, force protection against doubt about the Navy’s readiness to meet any emergent terrorist attacks, asymmetric warfare and exhorted all contingencies. CNS highlighted that tri-service synergy personnel to maintain highest-level of alertness. and coordination has peaked with establishment of the Admiral Karambir Singh thereafter departed by Department of Military Affairs as was visibly demonstrated helicopter to embark the Carrier Battle Group, comprising in the joint response of the three Services to recent events. Vikramaditya, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, fleet support CNS also advised continued compliance of protocols ships and integral swing-role fighters and helicopters. On by naval personnel and their families, in regard to COVID- embarking indigenous guided-missile destroyer Chennai, 19 pandemic. he was given an operational readiness briefing by the Fleet CNS returned to on completion of activities at sea Commander, after which weapon firings, air-to-air combat and visited the Naval Aircraft Yard followed by depature operations, anti-submarine drills and fleet manoeuvres were for . demonstrated under realistic conditions. CNS thereafter Concurrent with CNS’s review of combat readiness on embarked Fleet Support Ship Deepak to interact with the the Western seaboard, the Indian Navy’s Anti-Submarine ship's crew, followed by embarkation on aircraft carrier Warfare (ASW) capability was further augmented by Vikramaditya, where he witnessed the Carrier Battle Group’s commissioning of ASW Corvette Kavaratti by General capabilities for integral fleet air defence and strike. , Chief of the Army Staff, at Addressing the combatants of the Carrier Battle Group Visakhapatnam, on the Eastern seaboard. Designed by the over broadcast from Vikramaditya, CNS complimented them Indian Navy and built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and for continuously maintaining peak combat-readiness and Engineers Ltd, Kolkata, the ship is a fine example of high tempo of operations over the past months, in spite of Atmanirbhar Bharat. COVID-19 related challenges. The Indian Navy has Indian Navy continues to maintain a high tempo of remained mission-deployed and combat-ready across the operations and combat-readiness despite the COVID-19 IOR, even through rough seas during the monsoon period, pandemic by adhering to stringent protocols onboard towards maintaining the maritime security of the nation. warships, submarines and aircraft squadrons and bases, He highlighted the nation’s appreciation for the Navy’s and is fully prepared to tackle challenges in the maritime contributions in ‘Op Samudra Setu’ towards for repatriation domain, in coordination with Sister Services. of our distressed citizens from IOR countries and towards Malabar 2020 Naval Exercise The Malabar series of Naval exercises started in 1992 as a bilateral Indian Navy-US Navy exercise. Japan joined the Naval exercise in 2015. This annual exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018, off the coast the Japan in 2019 and is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea later this year. As India Seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy. This year, the exercise has been planned on a ‘non-contact - at sea’ format. The exercise will strengthen the coordination between the Navies of the participating countries. The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international

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Birth of - 16 December 1971

to the people of to prepare themselves for an all-out civil disobedience and freedom struggle. Later that evening protests and demonstrations began all over East Pakistan, which gradually turned more and more aggressive. Mujibur was arrested and jailed in . The leaders formed a Govt in exile and abetted creation of an armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the students, Bengali elements of Pak military and paramilitary called ‘Mukti Bahani’. Soon there was mass exodus of civilians too to join Mukti Bahini turning it into a ‘War for Liberation’. Gen Yahya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, immediately ordered the military in East Pakistan a full-scale retaliation, which soon turned into a genocide and flight of 10 million refugees across the border into India. The ever increasing number of refugees became a nightmare for India, politically as well as economically. In mid-April 1971, the three Indian military Chief of Army, Navy and Air Force, were called by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and directed to “immediately go into East Pakistan, and take action even if it meant war”. In 1947 India when the British left India they sadly The Chiefs, however, wisely insisted that they be given divided India into two countries - India and Pakistan. adequate time for preparation and choose a correct time There were two Pakistans after monsoon season in order to achieve a guaranteed - West Pakistan and East success. However, India started assisting Mukhi Bahani Pakistan with a distance of immediately to continue the guerrilla war in East Pakistan. over 2200 kilometers of India On the 3rd of Dec 1971, Pakistan declared war against between them. India by attacking number of our military airfields in The only thing common Northern India. between East and West Several Bengali pilots were trained by Indian Air Force Pakistan was, that they were at Dhimapur… in a clandestine manner, under cover, called Muslim, but didn’t speak the Kilo Flight …to fly and use an armed Alouette helicopter same language, didn’t dress and a similarly armed Otter aircraft. They were the first to the same way, eat the same go and attack fuel depots in Narayanganj and things, or even think the same at mid night on 3/4th Dec 71, from Agartala. way. And besides… West This war was won .with unstinting help and support of Pakistan treated East Pakistan as a colony and economically Mukti Bahini and Bengali population of East Pakistan, in sucked everything out from there. 14 days, liberating and creating a new country called 1970 elections in Pakistan was won, with hands down Bangladesh ….after the public surrender of 93,000 majority, by a Bengali part, the Awami League led by a Pakistanis at Dacca and other military garrisons. charismatic Bengali Leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. This incredible feat of arms could not have been The military dictator of Pakistan, Gen Yahya Khan, along achieved without the blood, sweat, tears and ultimate with his political cohort Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, both Punjabis, sacrifices of the Bengalis. I salute my Bengali comrades couldn’t stomach the thought of a Bengali becoming the watching this program along with our Indian Army, Navy Prime Minister of whole of Pakistan…. East and West. It and the Air Force. led to a political ‘Mexican Standoff’. My lesser known, remembered, or sung story… is On 7 March 1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued a call about a few helicopters, pilots and technical personnel who rose to the occasion to help the soldiers to leap over the

26 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 <> riverine and marshy areas quickly, with no precedent, or the war, and were part of the 4th and last SHBO. doctrine, to win the war so quickly. Our original task was to do casualty evacuation from The mobility of IV corps, commanded by Lt Gen Sagat the battlefields to Agartala, and sometimes to a Field Singh, was due largely to his intelligent and bold use of Hospital at Teliamura, as also to fly the senior Army officers helicopters of 110, 105 and 111 Helicopter Units, for tactical reconnaissance, and visit to troops fighting in various battlefields. So on 3, 4, 5 and 6 Dec that is what we This effort saved our army, our country and Bangladesh did. in men and material and horror of a long war – because the war finished so quickly the international community had Though we didn’t know it then, during the first 3 or 4 not even woken up to the fact the war was going on between days, perhaps by 7th or 8th Dec, the Indian Air Force India and Pakistan fighters and Bombers had demolished the . This may have helped the helicopters to fly without My story is about Indian Air Force Mi-4 helicopters, worrying about enemy fighters. pilots and Ground Support personnel who helped achieve the unthinkable. But worry we did, since we had no idea of IAF’s air superiority ….and so kept our eyes peeled, looking out for Paki Sabers. Such fear did not hamper or deter our operations in 71 war, especially our operations at night since we knew that neither friends, nor foe, had night fighting capability. In the Liberation War, we carried out four Special Heli Borne Operations, between 7th and 15th of Dec 71. We moved nearly 7000 soldiers and their equipment, including Artillery, right into the battlefield, nonstop, during that time, as well as evacuated hundreds of causalities, of both sides, on the return leg. I don’t know the exact number of soldiers we took or the load we carried. It was war, there were no load manifests!! Nobody was counting, or weighing the load, there was no time. Nobody looked at the charts to see what we can carry, we just filled up the helicopter and coaxed it to get airborne From 110 HU at Kumbhigram, we started positioning our Mi4 helicopters at Telimura, the headquarters of IV We were overloaded most of the time. I can tell you corps on 3rd Dec 1971. Teliamura is about 40 km east of MI-4 helicopter was amazing….it never let us down . What Agartala airport located very close to the border ….and a wonderful workhorse. We were very fortunate that we was being constantly shelled by Paki artillery from Akhura, had no accidents which was also located close to the border west of Agartala. I am also very grateful to our engineers and technicians, I was the Flight Commander or 2 i/c, of 110 Helicopter who kept all the helicopters flying, all the time during the Unit and therefore was in-charge of training, operational war. planning and it’s execution. They had very little resources, and they were doing all Gp Capt Chandan Singh, was then the Station kinds of maintenance in the field, with some support from Commander, Jorhat, as well as Kilo Force Commander, the our base at Kumbigram sadly none of our engineering staff only boss right in our midst, for all the Air Force operation. were recognized for the Herculean effort they put in. It is my impression that Chandan Singh conducted the And our pilots and flight engineers….they were all helicopter war, as desired by Gen , without any amazing. I was 30 then, and most were in their 20’s. What a overt consultation approval or interference from Head pleasure it was, to have all these wonderful motivated folks, Quarters Eastern Air Command; just as Sagat Singh himself working with me. conducted the IV Corps war without consultation approval Wherever we landed, the locals would turn up in large or interference from Head Quarters Eastern Army Command. numbers to help, which was wonderful. They were going I had 10 Mi-4s, 20 Pilots, 4 Technical Officer and about all around the helicopter and first day I positioned an airman 60 odd technical personnel from 110 HU. During the course to keep an eye so nobody goes near the tail, but the number of the war, we were joined by four Mi-4s of 105 HU, Sqn Ldr of helpers were so much, we gave up, again luckily nobody PN Chabra, with total 8 pilots. 2 Mi-4s of 111 HU,… with 4 went to the tail. pilots under Nanda Cariappa joined us towards the end of We were available 24/7. We slept an odd hour here and

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there was lull in activity. We ate whenever there was and Chandan came around 1100 hrs and gave us a quick food available. All the pilots were eager to fly, not one pilot brief that we were to airlift 4/5 GR from Kalura to . refused a flight, and I don’t remember anybody complaining He then took Chandan, Sandhu. in an Alouette for of hunger or thirst. reconnaissance of suitable landing sites at Kalura and Wherever we landed, there were arms and ammunition Sylhet. lying around, abandoned by fleeing . In their youthful exuberance, I saw some of my pilots walking around with grenades tucked into their belts It dawned on me that it was very dangerous, and a grenade could blow up. I advised our pilots not to take picked up ammunition in the helicopter and I had to order the pilots to give the grenades over to our Army. I had no problem of pilots picking up weapons or mementos as long as they were not armed. For mission planning purposes, I kept a pocket diary of what we were doing daily, and also updated my log book. Therefore, the four SHBOs that I am now going to describe, they are not only from memory, but also notes from my diary and log book.

At Kalura, we chose a large open paddy field next to a North South road about few km North of the railway station. Sylhet was approx 41 km to North West.

Our first SHBO was ordered by Gp Capt Chandan Singh early morning on 7th Dec 71. He just said, ‘Top up tanks and report at Kailashahar ALG’. So five Mi-4s of 110, went north-east about 120 km from Agartala, and positioned ourselves at KAILASHAHAR, an Advanced Landing Ground by 0900 hrs. Three more Mi-4s from 105 HU, joined us after some time (total 8 Mi-4s at the ALG). At Sylhet we chose a similar large paddy field, about 3 Because of the frequent shuttles we were doing, during or 4 km South West of the railway station, and two important the previous days, to resupply all sorts of military stores bridges across river Surma, which led to the town and including water, food and ammunition, and casualty military garrison well to the right. We carefully avoided evacuations on return, we knew that there was a raging going near the railway station, …town or military garrison, battle going on at Shamsher Nagar, Ghazipur, Kalura and to prevent Pakis firing at us. area, which I have marked on the slide with a Brig Quinn perhaps had complete tactical briefing, and red circle, close to Kailashahar. did caution us, that the Railway Station and bridges are But unknown to us at that time, Sagat had decided to well defended, and that we are to keep well away during the air lift 4/5 GR to Sylhet to bottle up about 1 ½ Brigades of troop induction. Pak Army, then at Sylhet, threatening the road and rail At midday we moved to KALURA and waited for 4/5 supply route from Silchar to Agartala, which ran parallel GR troops to arrive. During Dec, the crops had been and close to the border. harvested and the ground was fairly even and hard. Back at Kailashahar, Brig Bunty Quinn, Cdr 59 Brigade

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The 4/5 GR troops started arriving around 1430 hours, perhaps have seen all the bullets being fired at us, while we with sunset expected around 1730 hrs. could only see the ones which came towards each of us. It My briefing, to all the pilots, was to fill up the helicopter was indeed very frightening. and get airborne keeping a gap of 3 or 4 minutes from the 4/5 GR, commanded by Lt Col AB Harolikar, under Brig helicopter in front. Every helicopter had a number, Bunty Quinn, had been fighting continuous battles with I was number one and so on, we were only going to great valour for over a week, like the rest from 4 Corps. 4/5 have one helicopter on ground at Sylhet at any one time, GR had lost many soldiers and officers including their 2 i/c …so as not to give a bigger target to the enemy. in battle, many were walking wounded, was low on everything including ammunition food and water. So early From about 1500 till 1745 hours, ….total of 22 sorties morning on 7 Dec 71, the Bde Cdr realising their plight had were flown in enemy held terrain and we carried a total of given a 24 hr rest and recuperation to them on 7 Dec. 254 troops and 400 kg equipment of 4/5 GR. They had been withdrawn from battles of Ghazipur and For first and second rotation, we used 7 helicopters Kalura, and allowed to withdraw south of Kalura and were and for third rotation we used 8 helicopters. sleeping it off in a farm house barn when Gen Sagat Singh We had enough fuel to do three rotations each. We rescinded the R&R of 4/5 GR and ordered their airlift to couldn’t use all the helicopters because one helicopter was Sylhet by us at ½ hr notice. doing causality evacuation from other battle fields. Cas- Therefore, 4/5 GR, tired, sleepy and with not too high evac always had priority. morale had not had the time to plan for their heli-lift to By the time we went for the second rotation, Pakistan Sylhet, as to who would go first and who would go next, army had taken vantage positions at Sylhet and began firing what was to be carried with them, and what replenishments at us. Due to the secrecy and surprise of our operation the they required to continue fighting at Sylhet. enemy did not try to hamper our operation from Kalura. So, when the night flying was called off, there were All of us were also being fired at by the enemy posts at just 254 Gorkhas at Sylhet, even without a HF radio set, Sylhet Railway Station and two major Bridges over River with very little water, food or ammunition, no heavy infantry Surma. Mostly LMG, MMG and 303s, We could see weapons like mortars, facing annihilation from 1½ Brigades hundreds of tracer bullets coming towards us. of Pakis. Flt Lt Singla and Gp Capt Chandan Singh were in the Reason why the young adjutant of 4/5 GR got so upset armed Kilo Force Alouette helicopter, keeping an eye on us and pointed his pistol on his Brigade Commander Quinn at a higher altitude and also attacking enemy gun positions and Chandan Singh, and threatened to shoot them if the pointed out by Flt Lt Sharma, the FAC whom we had heli-lift was not recommenced immediately and rest of his dropped with 4/5 GR in the first rotation. unit and their equipment were not lifted and taken to Sylhet. Around 1800,…. well after sunset, …we returned to So it was that, after a lot of discussion between Quinn Kailashahar ALG, and shut down for refuelling. Petrol in and Chandan, it was agreed to send one helicopter to 200 ltr barrels, with Sudan Pumps had been brought by a Sylhet. If it came back safely, the SHBO was to restart Dak of 43 Sqn, from Kumbigram and Agartala, in several immediately. shuttles, incredibly flown all by himself, landing in Chandan then asked me to get one crew ready. He was Kailashahar lit by few glim lamps, by Fg Offr Arun Karandikar sure the helicopter was going to be shot down and won’t on the orders of Gp Capt Chandan Singh. be coming back. Chandan Singh didn’t ask the rest of the We had no time for fuel barrels to stay upright for 48 helicopters to get ready. hours before use, we ignored that rule. I went to our rest room and asked for a volunteer to At 1800 when we had all shut down - It was pitch dark come with me. Every one of the pilot’s put their hand up. When the helicopters were being checked, one engineer Wow, wow. Our morale was sky high. I randomly picked Fg came and told me that one helicopter had not come back. offr Kanth Reddy to be my Co-Plt. We got loaded with We called him on the radio and discovered he had got essential equipment and soldiers of 4/5 GR and got airborne lost. We then fired a flare, the pilots saw it, came over and around midnight. landed. It was pitch dark, and all we had was a compass to When we got ready to do our next rotation to Sylhet, navigate and 20 minutes of flying time to Sylhet. Of course Chandan Singh said no more flying during the night because I knew what and where the helipad was in day time. I had it was too dangerous and we would be sitting ducks to the no idea how I was going to find at night, I knew the river fusillade aimed at us. was there and the railway station and two big bridges over Perched above us in the armed Alouette, he could Surma, but of course everything looks different at night.

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Luckily for us, Flg Offr SC Sharma, the FAC with 4/5 refuelled, and once again joined others and the operation GR, whom we had dropped in the first rotation, heard the continued throughout the night. helicopter and came up on the GRU radioset and said ‘about We did a total of 14 sorties with 5 helicopters between time you guys came back’. I was so glad to hear Sharma. I 0000 and 0500. didn’t want to land in unknown field. During the next day we did a number of flights to Sylhet, I asked him what the situation was like on the ground including a new 2 i/c for 4/5 GR, the incredible soldier Maj and he said it was ‘quiet’, and that he would light a fire for Ian Cardozo. us so we would know where to land. We finished moving all the soldiers and load of 4/5 GR When I saw the fire, ….. I headed straight for it. My to Sylhet by 9 Dec morning. briefing to the troops in my helicopter was very simple, as In addition, Chandan got everything additional asked soon as I touch down everybody to jump out with their for by 4/5 GR air dropped by a Caribou of 33 Sqn. equipment and I would be airborne in 30 seconds. Therein lies a tale of incredible valour of a depleted 4/ We had removed our clamp shell doors for the duration 5 GR who not only contained 1 ½ Bde of Pakis at Sylhet, of the war, made it much easier to load and unload the but also accepted their surrender too, a week later. Over helicopter. 5000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to 900 Gurkhas of 4/5 That also meant that there was a big hole at the back of GR. our cabin. When I was on finals, I saw tracer bullets coming During the Sylhet ops, three of our helicopters were hit towards me from all directions, I was sure we would have by ground fire, but the crew were able to bring the dozens of bullet holes. helicopters back to base and the engineers were able to fix We landed at Sylhet, dropped our load and got airborne them Nobody was injured. within a minute, climbed very quickly and set course back One of the helicopter flown by Flt Lt P N Rao, got hit to Kalura, lit up by four Goose Necks, where the rest of 4/5 and one of the soldiers in the cabin was killed, he overshot GR was waiting. I asked my flight engineer to look for bullet quickly and came back to base. holes, and few minutes later he came back with a big grin and said that there was not even one bullet hole. For having volunteered to do a dangerous mission at night, act as a guinea pig, Chandan forwarded my name for I was amazed! The enemy could not see us – they could a gallantry award. I was awarded a Vir Chakra few days only hear us, that’s why they were just firing with no target later. in view. Throughout the Sylhet SHBO, all the pilot’s flew both I contacted KAILASHAHAR, and told the rest of the by day and night. Having completed the Sylhet mission, helicopters to proceed to Kalura and recommence the SHBO by 1100 hours on the 9th Dec, all the MI-4’s returned to ASAP. Agartala, where other adventures awaited us. I picked up the next load from Kalura, and dropped During one of my talks somebody asked me whether them at Sylhet, and came running back still with no bullet you were not scared? I said it didn’t even occur to me that holes, picked up the third load and dropped it at Sylhet. By I should be scared. All of us had a job to do and got on with the time rest of the helicopters got ready I was on my way it. back from the third flight. The success of the Sylhet operation must have given After dropping my third load, when I got airborne from Gen Sagat the confidence to now go for the juggler, at Sylhet, I noticed that our fuel gauge was showing zero fuel. Dacca. The helicopter was still flying, so of course we had fuel. Three of us in our Mi-4 prayed to whoever was up there to DACCA get us back safely. Buriganga River We got back to Kalura without much ado, very Our second Heli borne operation was from fortunate. 4 Mi-4s were on ground at Kalura and were Brahmanbaria to Raipura, …… to air lift 4 Guards in the getting ready to take off for Sylhet. evening hours of 9 Dec 71. Our engineers had a Jerrican, so they drained some Another interesting incident happened. fuel from each of the 4 helicopters and put it in my helicopter. Sometime after 1130 hrs on 9th Dec, Sagat, Brig Mishra I took off from Kalura, landed at Kailashahar ALG and (Cdr 311 Bde), Sqn Ldr Sandhu, and I - went in an Alouette switched off to check why my fuel gauge was showing helicopter of 115 HU, flown by Fg Offrs Sidhu and Jitu Sahi zero. to recce the landing area on the west side of Meghna river At KAILASHAHAR the engineers discovered a bullet near Raipura - for our next SHBO. had cut the cable to the fuel gauge. That was changed, we

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On the flight out the Alloutte climbed up to 5000 feet radio set. I got airborne, crossed Meghna and landed at plus to stay away from small arms fire. After we had selected Raipura 40 km away. our landing area, two open paddy fields a km apart, about 4 Grds jumped out quickly, and as I was just going to 3-4 km of Methikanda Rlwy Stn, we returned. Half way pull up my collective, my instinct told me to wait. back Gen Sagat told the pilot that the area below was under Thirty seconds later, I saw the second helicopter Indian army control and that we can descend. overshoot right on top of me. If I had pulled up, I would When we were maybe 1000 feet, suddenly we heard- have gone straight into him. Very very lucky day for phut-phut -phut noise, and there were bullet holes in the Chandan & us. Alouette - at least a dozen, if not more. We were between We used 10 helicopters, did 27 sorties, and ferried 4 Asugunj and Brahmanbaria. Grds Alpha Coy and their load from Brahmanbaria to Raipura. Fg Offr Sidhu was hit by a bullet which had come In total, we ferried 309 troops and 2200 kgs. The FAC through the instrument panel and went through his shoulder had quickly heaped two straw mountains and set fire to it. and got buried in back rest behind him. Another bullet It burned and smouldered all night and acted as a beacon greased Sagat’s fore head. I was just two feet behind the all night. Sidhu’s back rest! Very close. Fg Offr Jeetu Sahi immediately took over, climbed rapidly and landed back at Brahmanbaria. Between 9 at night and 10 in the morning of 10th Dec, we continued the airlift, using 8 Mi-4s and ferried over 300 After surveying an open stadium, next to a stream troops and 6000 kgs of load. South of Brahmanbaria as a suitable launch pad, we returned to Agartala, where Sidhu was evacuated to Teliamora field At about 0300, when we were loading up our helicopters hospital. for the next flight across the river Meghna, One pilot called up to say he had no load, then another helicopter with I discovered later that there were 38 bullet holes in that same news, and third one and the 4th one too. helicopter Wow - and only one person got injured and Sagat only had a scratch - amazing. I told everybody to shut down and have a break. I went to meet CO 4 Guards Lt Col Himmeth Singh, who was I then took my lot to Brahmanbaria stadium. When we supposed to be loading up our helicopters to check what landed there and shut down, we saw hundreds of dead was going on. bodies near the river side where we had landed. Himmeth told me he wanted all 8 helicopters for his We asked the locals what had happened and they told Battalion to cross Meghna. I was very annoyed and I told us that the Pakistan army had rounded up all the people him he was delaying the war effort, After couple of minutes from the village and shot as many as they could, a very sad he got my message, organised quick loading, and we sight. continued our flights. For our SHBO that evening, I split up the helicopters in We kept flying the whole night and finished the mission two groups of four. We had planned two landing sites across of ferrying the entire Battalion of 4 Grds and their loads and the river about one kilometre apart. returned to Agartala. I was to go across the river, land to discharge the troops That was just the beginning. Sagat and Chandan now and their cargo. And after take-off, turn left to come back to wanted us to make half of 4 Corps cross Meghna and run take off site and my group of 4 helicopters was going to to Dacca. follow me 2/3 minutes apart. 4 Guards had run and Captured Narsingdi and that was The other group was going to take off and land on the to be our next destination, for our third SHBO from right helipad and after take off – go right and come back to Brahmanbaria to Narsinghdi. the take off site. The briefing was no over shooting, if the first helicopter was still on ground, those following were to slow down, or land slightly to one or the other side. All this was to be in fading light and in pitch darkness afterwards. 4 Guards, fighting a battle on the outskirts of Ashuganj, were ordered to withdraw to Brahmanbaria. So it was about 1600 by the time they got back and loaded the Mi-4, within half an hour. I was in the first helicopter on the left, with Chandan, and Coy Cdr Alpha Coy Maj Chandrakant with his troops. Also on board was FAC Flg Offr Shaheed with his GRU

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All ten helicopters proceeded to Brahmabaria with A total of 35 sorties were done involving 35 hours flying ground crew on 10th evening and spent the night there, and we carried 234 troops and 20,000 kgs of load from There was no accommodation. So we managed to find Brahmanbaria to Narsinghdi on 12th Dec. an empty hall near the stadium and all 60 of us, officers and On 13th Dec, we continued our SHBO from airmen squeezed into it for the night. There was nothing to Brahmanbaria to Narsinghdi. We did a total of 30 sorties eat and so we slept on an empty stomach. involving 25 hours of flying. We had 10 helicopters and air Two more helicopters joined us from 111 HU. lifted 300 troops and 15,000 kgs load The task early on 11th Dec morning was to airlift two Over all, around 1400 troops and 100,000 kgs load was battalions (perhaps 10 Bihar and 18 Rajput of 311 Bde) and carried from Brahmanbaria to Narsinghdi; that is 164 sorties an artillery regiment (perhaps 65 Mtn Rgt) involving 110 and 150 hours of flying was done. sorties. The field guns were to be broken down to fit into the Mi-4s. Now there was no Pakistan Army in the area to low worry about - so we were flying and landing together in resolution pic pre-reconnoitred big paddy fields, just South West of not clear Narsinghdi. The first wave took off at 0530 and kept flying till 0720. We had ten helicopters and did three sorties each and we carried 321 troops and 7200 kgs of load to Narsinghdi On 13th Dec morning, Sagat Singh took Chandan and We then had little break and refuelled at Agartala. Our went to visit Maj Gen Rocky Hira, GoC 23 Mountain Div, next rotation started at 0915 and continued till 1145. Again trying to cross Meghna at its widest part, using country we had 10 helicopters - We lifted 250 troops and 17000 kgs boats from Daudkandy north of Chandpur. Sagat was of load. impatient at the slow progress of 23 Div, and wanted them Third rotation started after we had refuelled at Agartala to cross over quickly and blockade the southern part of around 1330. Again we had 10 helicopters and we carried Dacca. 190 troops and 24,500 kgs of load. So it was that Sagat and Chandan planned the 4th and After refuelling at Agartala our fourth rotation must largest SHBO across the widest part of the mighty Meghna have started around 1730 – we had 9 helicopters and each to take 23 Div across. did one sortie, this time and carried over 50 troops and 9000 In the evening on 13th Dec, when we returned from kgs of load. Narsinghdi to Agartala, So total for 11 Dec 71 was over 800 troops and 65,000 I was ordered to plan for the biggest SHBO next day kgs load and we did 99 sorties. from Daudkandy to Baidya Bazar and deliver 23 Div to the On 11 Dec 71, we also sent one helicopter back to Sylhet Southern suburb of Dacca. for casualty evacuation. Fg Offr BK Sharma and Fg Offr By then the Indian army and Mukti Bahini had already PVR Murthy did the evacuation at night because it was felt reached Tongi in the North and Demra area in South East safer to land at night and had started shelling Paki army garrisons in Dacca. Both pilots showed great skill and courage and A recce in an Alouette helicopter was carried out to evacuated 30 casualties in two sorties in spite of heavy locate open fields at Daudkandi and Baidya Bazar. ground fire. They also flew in urgently required ammunition We had 12 Mi-4 helicopters and positioned ourselves required by troops. Z 349 helicopter came back with a at Daudkandi at 0730 on 14 Dec to take 23 Div troops and number of bullet holes. their load to Baidya Bazar. Another helicopter, Z 613, flown by Fg offr Kanth However, due to marshy terrain and exhaustion, the Reddy - on its way back to Kumbhigram for inspection had first lot of troops arrived at only around 1030 hrs. an engine fire en-route and had to force land. The helicopter 12 helicopters and its crew sat and fretted for three was completely burnt after landing, but the crew managed hours at Daudkandi, deep within enemy lines, with each to escape unhurt. minute appearing like an hour. We continued our SHBO on the 12th Dec from We had made three groups of 4 helicopters each. The Brahmanbaria to Narsinghdi. First detail had 8 helicopters first group was called Black, second one was called Red and they carried 138 troops and 13,820 kgs load. Second and third one was called Green – no idea why we did that. detail we had 4 helicopters and lifted 100 troops and 6000 Must have sounded like a good idea at the time. kgs of load.

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Between 1100 and 1630 we did a total of 80 sorties Mi-4. I was told that my pilots not needed for flying crossing the Meghna river at its widest part, and carried duties should be left behind. 900 troops and 25,000 kgs of load from Daudkandi and However I ignored the instructions – I reasoned that Baidyabazar, a distance of about 25 km. after risking their lives and flying to their limit, my pilots Daudkandi is 66 km, south west of Agartala. Baidya and flight engineer’s deserved to see this once-in-a-lifetime Bazar is north of Narayanganj, southern outskirt of Dacca. surrender ceremony. On 15 Dec 71, early morning, before a cease fire came Therefore, close to 20 pilots and flight engineers, into effect, we used 7 helicopters and continued our airlift besides other personnel who fought the war with me were of the stragglers of 23 Div from Daudkandi to Baidya Bazar. “smuggled” on board five Mi4s which followed the long We did 43 sorties and carried over 400 troops and 17,000 line of helicopters heading for Dacca. kgs of load. A tumultuous reception awaited us. Flying Officer S Between 14 & 15 Dec, we had ferried over 1200 troops Krishnamurthy, called Kruts in 110, in his exuberance also and 90,000 kgs load of 23 Div from Daudkandi to Baidya managed to “photobomb” Gen Niazi signing the surrender Bazar in 122 sorties flying total of 62.20 hours document in presence of General Aurora and the who’s During this operation, on receipt of an SoS from army, who of Indian military brass. we sent one helicopter to carry vital equipment and Much to the chagrin of Gen Jacob, Kruts even had his ammunition to Narsingdi as well as evacuate serious hand over the General’s shoulder, in my opinion, a right casualties. display of camaraderie and exuberance of winning a war. Another helicopter – Z640, on its way to Kumbhigram We took as many reporters as we could. There were for servicing had a transmission failure just six miles short men and women reporters from so many different parts of of Kumbhigram. They forced landed short of Khumbhigram the world. There was no restriction. We still had no clamp Crew escaped unhurt and helicopter was recovered later. shell doors or seat belts for passengers- can you imagine 16 Dec 71 - Surrender Day that? Back at Agartala, on 16th morning, we heard that Maj When we landed at , and parked next to Pak Gen Jacob was being sent from Calcutta to Dacca to discuss International Terminal at Tezgaon, there were thousands of surrender terms. Bengalis milling about cheering us, each wanting to shake hands or carry us on their shoulders. A multitude of cars, With Paki garrisons in Dacca surrounded from West, rickshaws, cyclists, even bullock carts awaited to take us North, East and South, no place to run to, and the whole to witness the public surrender ceremony at Ramna Race Bengali population hostile, we stayed tuned into pocket Course. radios confident that by the end of the day the sun would set on East Pakistan. It was like the movies, when the Americans drove into Paris at the end of WW2. It was wonderful feeling. There Our morale went sky high when an Avro arrived at were so many people with guns firing in the air in excitement. Agartala from Calcutta with Gen Aurora, his wife, V Adm Krishnan and their entourage. Soon another Avro arrived Less than two weeks after the declaration of war the from Guhati with Air Mshl Diwan and a large number of Pakistani army surrendered with over 93,000 troops IAF officers. I have no recollection of how I came back to the Dhaka Two more Avros brought journalists. By 3 O’clock airport – just that we flew back at night to Agartala. Agartala was chock-a-block with Avros, Alouettes from After Bangladesh was formed – our helicopter kept Tezpur, Bhagdogra, Air OP Chetaks and Krishaks from 659 going to Dacca and other locations in Bangladesh to help Sqn, besides the valiant Mi-4s of 110, 105 and 111. the Govt of Bangladesh and Indian Army maintain law and Dacca runway had been severely bombed, with many order. large craters, and was unfit for use except by helicopters. I had taken a helicopter to Bangladesh and stayed there Therefore, it was decided to fly the VIPs to Dacca in for a month. Sunil Dutt, Nargis, Waheeda Rehman, Lata VIP Alouettes with white seat covers. The war was over for Mangashkar and few more folks had come to entertain the us. troops and we had the pleasure of meeting them and talking to them. Mi-4s had no seat cover and besides VIPs didn’t like to fly in our cocktail shaker. In Chittagong, the Bangladesh authorities had given me a Volkswagen Beetle car for local use. I gave a lift to There were large number of lesser men, and the press Nargis and Waheeda Rehman, beautiful actresses of those reporters. So I was asked to fly them to Dacca in a years – I felt Wow, Wow.

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How Mi-8 helped India’s Operation Cactus

We salute the Mi-8 today on the occasion of the 32nd respect of our countrymen. anniversary of Operation Cactus.Through its glorious One such operation not talked about much is the service career, the Mi-8 provided the IAF with a lineage of operation carried out in the Maldives in November 1988 professional helicopter aircrew, notes IAF helicopter pilot codenamed Operation Cactus. veteran, Air Nitin Sathe (retd). 112 Helicopter Unit was tasked to assist the action in Illustrations: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com the Maldives in November 1988. I chanced upon an article I learnt to fly twin engine helicopters on the Mi-8 in written by IAF Veteran R Raju Srinivasan the farthest corner of our country — in Kumbhigram for the Rotor India magazine, produced by the Rotary Wing (Silchar) in 1988. Society of India. It was due to RWSI’s permission that I could adapt this article for Rediff.com. Having been inducted into the This was the time when we were fully occupied with IAF just after the what was happening in Sri Lanka (Operation Pawan) and 1971 War, the Mi-8 - on the Siachen Glacier (Operation Meghdoot). though ageing - was Maldives is 450 km from our sea borders of the south, the backbone of the 600 odd km from Thiruvananthpuram. It had only one airport Indian Air Force’s located on Hulhule island near the capital, Male. medium lift A protectorate of Britain since 1887, the Maldives gained helicopter fleet at independence in July 1965, and in 1968, became a that time. republic.The 3.5 lakh population is mostly Muslim and the I was posted to Chabua in Assam to fly the much newer, country has seen political unrest right since its powerful and advanced Mi-17. The Mi-17 could only be independence. flown by people who were qualified on the Mi-8; that was The then president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, had the rule then. seen two attempts to overthrow him till 1988. In a daring So here I was, at Silchar, in the rainiest and the most raid on the presidential palace on November 3, 1988, the humid part of the country to learn to fly this machine. rebels took over government offices and declared a nation- And what a machine it was! All your motor skills and wide emergency Gayoom went into hiding along with many knowledge of aerodynamics and the aircraft itself were of his supporters seeking intervention from the required to their fullest to fly this beauty. governments of India, Great Britain and Sri Lanka. It taught you how a helicopter was to be handled like a The Rajiv Gandhi government was the first to respond baby; one learnt to be patient and soft with the machine and what followed was troop intervention by the Indian because she would complain and complain harshly if you armed Forces. Operation Cactus had begun. rough-handled her! 44 Squadron located at Agra, commanded by then It was just a matter of time when the Mi-17 would slowly Group Captain A G Bewoor, was tasked to fly in two IL-76 replace the Mi-8. But so robust was this machine that it strategic lift aircraft with close to 600 troops into Hulhule took another 27 years before the IAF finally retired it from on the night of November 3. its inventory. While posted at the Defence Services Staff College at It was the 17th of December 2017 when the last of the Wellington, I had the opportunity a number of times to Mi-8s was phased out at a glittering ceremony at the IAF listen to Gp Capt Bewoor and his team did on this operation station in Yelahanka, . and each time I ended up learning something new. The Mi-8 helicopter trained 119 pilots courses besides At about 2200 hours, the IL-76 aircraft landed in pitch training numerous flight engineers and gunners. darkness and the troops quickly moved over the small islands in boats and captured the rebels; the President and The IAF’s helicopter fleet is the youngest, being raised his staff were taken to safety. in 1954. The fleet has done extremely well for itself over the years proving the mettle of the men in blue. It was a brave mission and the risk taken by the crew on this mission to land at an unlit runway with no support Be it the wars of 1965, 1971 or Kargil, and countless from the ground needs special mention. humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the helicopters have been able to achieve their tasks with elan, earning the While narrating the story, Gp Capt Bewoor made us shudder when he spoke of how uncertain he was about

34 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 <> the condition of the runway. them with the navigation with the Non-Directional Beacon It would have been a catastrophe had the rebels at Male being shut down. blocked the runway with vehicles and boulders and this While both helicopters were not fitted with floats, only would have led to loss of the aircraft, and probably the men Wing Commander Sharma’s aircraft had a serviceable inside too. weather radar. The Indian Army had sent its best - the para-commandos Despite all this, and, with bad weather enroute which of 3 Para - for this mission. Armed with only tourist maps forced the helicopters to fly skimming the waves, the and small weapons, they achieved the impossible without mission was accomplished as planned. any casualty. While they approached to land at Hulhule, there was The rebels obviously had not reckoned with external no contact with the men on ground and therefore no surety intervention and were taken by surprise. of the airfield being safe. Meanwhile unknown to Bewoor Sir and his crew, 112 After carrying out a few orbits to ascertain that there HU, commanded by then Wing Commander S K Sharma, was no trouble brewing on ground and no firing going on, was tasked to send two Mi-8 helicopters to the islands. the helicopters landed at the airfield to be received by the Just for the happy faces of the para commandos. distance involved, The next three days saw these helicopters being flown the Mi-8 had to be all over the islands of the Maldives, picking up and fitted with extra dropping the red bereted commandos and ensuring that tanks of fuel. Led there was no more conflict or trouble on the islands. by the By the 6th of November, the islands were restored to commanding normalcy with President Gayoom back in harness. The first officer himself, the international flight landed the same day signalling the end two helicopters of the siege. positioned themselves at The Mi-8s stayed for a couple of days to help maintain Trivandrum on the peace and normalcy and carried out their return ferry on night of November 3, 1988. November 8. Sharma Sir’s co-pilot was another Sharma, a young The role of the Mi-8s in Operation Cactus went flying officer then. The second helicopter was flown by the unnoticed. The brave crew achieved the task despite all Flight Commander, then K J Bhat with the technical difficulties and there were no medals or then Flying Officer Sai as his co-pilot. recognition for what they did. The unit technical officer, then Flight Lieutenant Sinha Indeed, the helicopter, despite being a noisy machine was on board with his servicing crew and whatever little with its crew, goes about its tasks silently and achieves the spares that could be carried. impossible without a fuss. While preparing the aircraft for the long flight, one of We salute the Mi-8 today on the occasion of the 32nd the machines sprung a fuel leak from its internal tanks and anniversary of Operation Cactus. a third helicopter- flown by then Wing Commander D N Through its glorious service career, the Mi-8 did not Sahai was brought in by night as a replacement. just establish itself as a mainstay of the helicopter The takeoff for Male was planned at daybreak the next operations, but also left an indelible mark on the future by morning and the crew got down into mission planning and providing the IAF with a lineage of professional helicopter preparation way into the night. aircrew. For flying over the sea, the Mi-8 helicopters require [ Nitin Sathe retired from the Indian floats (for emergency landing on water) and a weather radar Air Force in February 2020 after a distinguished 35 year to avoid bad weather. career where he helped rebuild the IAF’s Car Nicobar air base after it was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. Also, there are no navigational aids or markers over the vast expanse of the ocean. The ground beacon at The author of three books, you can read Air Trivandrum could help you navigate to about 100 odd km Commodore Sathe’s earlier contributions here. outbound; therefore, with the primitive instruments and Air Commodore NITIN SATHE (retd).] navigation aids on the helicopter it was an arduous task to plan and fly this long journey. Also, there were no aids on ground at Male to help

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Third Indian Expedition to (1983-85)

MS Finnpolaris approaching the Berth site near

Background Antarctica . 1.The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, (c) 14 Dec 83. Fast ice is all around the ship. At 1030 hrs multi-institutional program under the control of the National prayers are held at the deck. At 1100 hrs the first Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth reconnaissance sortie by the Chetak helicopter is Sciences, . It was initiated in 1981 with conducted. There is broken sea ice all the way from our the first Indian expedition to Antarctica. present position (69.2 S, 12 E) towards Antarctica. The ship 2.The program gained global acceptance with India’s continues to move breaking some 1 metre thick sea ice. At signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent 2200 hrs another Chetak sortie is conducted and the base construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research camp huts of the two previous Indian expeditions (1981-82 base in 1983, superseded by the Maitri base from 1989. The and 1982-83) as well as the Runway hut are located. The newest base commissioned in 2012 is Bharati, constructed sun hangs at the horizon at midnight: we are having 24 hrs out of 134 shipping containers. Under the program, day. . atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical (d) 27 Dec 83. Finnpolaris is moored on to fast ice- sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 38 Curious penguins come flocking to the ship.. They are scientific expeditions to the Antarctic as of 2018-20. lowered to the fast ice and quickly driven away along the Third Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica in land route marked to the base camp site Which Helicopters Played a Major Role (e) 28 Dec 83. Construction party moves to the site of 3.The Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base was the base station and establishes a camp using BAS and established This was the first time an Indian team spent a medium Arctic tents. winter in Antarctica to carry out scientific works. The (f) 29 Dec 83. Digging of foundation begins at the base station was built in eight weeks by an 83-member team led camp site While carrying an under-slung load MI-8 by Dr. . with help from the Indian army. The helicopter crashes into icy waters at 1430 hrs. With God’s Third Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica was able to grace all on board the ill-fated helicopter are rescued. achieve all the objectives set out for it including its main (g) 31 Dec 83. Bad weather and snow drift covers the task of erecting a permanent building for the Indian Station. dugout trenches for foundation and other stores 4. one summer season. Considerable scientific work transported to the base camp. and investigations were carried out in different. disciplines (h) 01 to 10 January 1984 Unloading of the ship is in full of science during the period of stay of the team in Antarctica. swing. A helipad has been set-up at the base. Due to some . It can cut up to 70 cm thick ‘fast ice’. This 159 m long, logistic problems, most of the cargo which was to be 12.385 gross tonnage ship had been suitably modified for transported underslung on MI-8 helicopter has now to be storing and operation of the helicopters, accommodation transported in the fuselage of 83 team members, etc. (I) 12 Jan 84. As a part of the scientific program, a (a) 03 Dec 83. bid bon voyage to the 81-member team scientist camp is to be established at Shirmacher Hills a at 6 PM from Goa. The construction job was handled by small range some 60 kms away from the shelf . . At 1600 hrs personnel in uniform. The logistic support, in terms of flying a party of 9 starts from the base camp in a Piston Bully with was provided by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. all the scientific equipment, fuel, food and tents loaded on (b)14 Dec 83. The ship sails from Mauritius towards the sledge Following the Russian track, marked every

36 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 <> kilometer with a pole with a gum boot hat, the party reaches (n) The unloading of the cargo was finished at the end the Lake Point at 2000 hrs. From here the lakes start and the of January 1984. The helicopter operations were sometimes helicopter is to transport men and material to the Shirmacher hampered by snowdrifts, which took place during stronger hill camp site, some 20 kms away. The helicopter could not winds (above 10 m/s). Visibility on the ground was then come due to technical problem and the scientist party reduced and the pilot could not see the ground to put down pitches two tents and sleep there. the cargo safely. (j) 17 Jan 84. Blocks A & B of the permanent Indian (o) Jan-Mar 84. By the end of January 84, the cargo had Station have been completed to the roof level. Most of the been unloaded and during February 84, the construction structure material has been transported through the teams could fully concentrate on the erection of the stamen helicopters. and internal installations. The members of the construction (k) 18 Jan 84. Finnpolaris finally reached the ice shelf. teams belonged to the Indian Army. The Navy and the Air Pisten Bullys with sledges are brought alongside, and the Force which had been responsible for the cargo handling unloading activity is in full swing. The last vehicle left the operations could now assist in construction work and the ship at 4 in the morning. station was ready for preliminary test runs of different installations at the end of February on schedule. The (l) 27 Jan 84. moored to the sea ice on 27 December wintering party moved into the building on the last days of 1983. It wasted no time, and the vehicles were offloaded Feb 84. On the 1st of March1984, the ship sailed from onto the sea ice, after locating a suitable ramp for negotiating Antarctica for India on the 26th of December 1983. onto the shelf from the sea ice. The reconnaissance helicopters played an extremely useful role in locating the Constraints site of the station which had been selected provisionally Time for Preparation before Departure.The time from maps and air photos. available for planning preparations, training was limited. (m) The ship carried 4 helicopters: 2 Ml 8 Helicopters Total Number of IAF Personnel. Since there was a of the IAF and 2 Chetaks. F payload of Ml 8 helicopter is limitation on total number of IAF personnel in the about 2.5 tons and of Alouette about 0.9 tons, which meant contingent, restrictions were placed at every level: the that several flights were required for the 700 tons of cargo number of Pilots, Flt Engr/Flt Gnr, Ground Crew, EO. to be airlifted from the Ship under slung to the Dakshin Crew Gangotri site. Operation “WHISK” was the name given to (a) At the beginning, the IAF was to deploy one Chetak the task of offloading the stores from the ship and getting and One Mi8 helicopter for the expedition. Hence the crew them to the base camp. So, the MI-8 helicopter was were chosen such that there were two captains qualified operational from the 29th of December and worked on each type. The crew were made current on the respective unceasingly till all the stores had been offloaded. The total types and categorised etc during the preparation period. quantity of stores carried was about 500 tons, not including The decision to fly only Mi8 in the expedition was taken the fuel, which itself was about 400 tons. The fuel was later. However, three of the pilots were current and shifted to the base camp by snow vehicles and sledges experienced on Mi8 helicopters and hence it did not make only after the ship came alongside the ice shelf. The cargo any adverse impact. included provisions, building material, generators, radio equipment with 2 satellite communication units, scientific (b)Due to the limit of total number of contingent equipment, etc. These were taken to the Dakshin Gangotri personnel, the Flt Engr was to act also as the Flt Gnr during site by helicopters.. The heaviest loads, 4 snowcats, were the sortie. So, during the underslung operations, one crew unloaded directly onto the ice and then driven via a slope member was missing from the cockpit. This had not been at the shelf ice edge found by helicopter reconnaissance to practiced during training and hence the drawbacks of this the place which had been chosen for the new station. arrangement were not evident.

Continued on page-41 Base camp at Dakshin Gangotri

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IAF Participation in the Third Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica

Constraints under which the Mission was launched Limited time for Preparation before Departure. Owing to international ramification, the timing of the event provided extremely limited preparatory time for planning, preparations, training of aircrew for the mission was severely restricted. Limitation on the number of IAF Personnel. Since the Expedition had wide ranging objectives and needed several domain experts, there was a limitation on total number of IAF personnel in the contingent. Restrictions were therefore placed at every level including on the number of Pilots, Flt MS Finnpolaris enroute to antartica Engr/Flt Gnr, Ground Crew, EO etc Huge Logistic Air Support Requirement. Since heavy load of prefabricated construction material around 700 tons was to be air lifted under slung from the Ship Fin Polaris to the site where Dakshin Gangotri was to be erected, it was decided to opt for the MI-8 helicopters of the IAF as against the Sea King helicopters of the Indian Navy. This resulted in the requirement of modifying the hold of the Ship Fin Polaris to accommodate two MI-8 helicopters of the IAF and two chetaks of the Indian Navy. Type qualification and experience of the Air Crew. At the beginning, the IAF was to deploy one Chetak and One Mi8 helicopter for the expedition. Hence the crew were chosen such that there were two captains qualified on each type. The crew were made Training for Underslung Cargo Ops. As the expedition current on the respective types and categorised etc during progressed, owing to inadequate berthing facilities, it was the preparation period. However, the decision to add one decided to shift most of the prefabricated construction more Mi8 helicopter and one Chetak in the expedition was material by Mi-8 helicopters under slung from the Ship Fin taken later. It resulted in having only three of the four pilots Polaris to the Base camp (Dakshin Gangotri). If it had been current and experienced on Mi8 helicopters. decided at the planning stage, then the IAF would have Limited number of Flt Gunners. Due to the limitation trained its aircrew extensively in underslung ops with similar of total number of contingent personnel, the Flt Engr was loads during pre-expedition preparations. In fact, the net to act also as the Flt Gnr during the sortie. On occasions, for carrying the slung load to be used for the underslung during the underslung operations, the Flight Engineer had operations in the expedition was a new item procured from to leave the cockpit to handle the cargo operations. As this the market as the item supplied with the helicopter was contingency was not practiced during training, it led to unsuited for the prefab material to be taken under slung. safety hassles. As the net stretched quite a bit with the prefab material, the

38 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 <> helicopter had to hover higher to lift the load of the helideck. In the following page, we have shared the untold the The pilots learned the technique on the job when they story of what caused the accident which took place 36 were airlifting the load from the ship to the site during the years back. The reasons for the accident are outlined by a expedition. member of the Air Force Team. Kudos for the phenomenal job done by the IAF Team in helping the success of the Expedition. The two MI 8 helicopters of the IAF carried out numerous missions required for the 700 tons of cargo to be airlifted from the Ship under slung to the Dakshin Gangotri site. Operation “WHISK” was the name given to the task of offloading the stores from the ship and getting them to the base camp. Till the end of Jan 84, the MI 8 helicopters worked unceasingly till all the cargo were airlifted to the Bas Camp. The cargo included provisions, building material, generators, radio equipment with 2 satellite communication units, scientific equipment, etc. These were taken to the Dakshin Gangotri site by helicopters. The unloading of Mi-8 Helicopter on the helideck of MS Finnpolaris the cargo was finished at the end of January 1984. The helicopter operations were sometimes hampered by snowdrifts, which took place during stronger winds (above 10 m/s). Visibility on the ground was then reduced and the pilot could not see the ground to put down the cargo safely. Everything went perfect except on 29 Dec 83, one of the Mi-8 helicopters carrying an under-slung load crashed on takeoff from the helideck and fell into icy waters at 1430 hrs. On takeoff from the helideck, the net carrying the under slung cargo got entangled with the structure of the ship. As the under slung load was not ejected, the load got struck to the obstruction and the helicopter over pitched and fell into the freezing waters adjacent to the ship. With God’s grace, all on board the ill-fated Mi-8 helicopter was rescued. Load being manually pushed in the Mi-8 Helicopter

Pre-Fab construction material being transported by Mi-8

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Untold Story of IAF Mi-8 Helicopter Accident In Antarctica 36 Years Back

In the Third Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, MI-8 Helicopters of the IAF played a major role in carrying over 700 tons of cargo under slung from the Ship Finn Polaris to the building site of the Base camp, named Dakshin Gangotri. It was a fantastic achievement as the entire flying effort was performed icy wind conditions. On 29 Dec 83, one of the Mi-8 helicopters carrying an under-slung load from the Ship Finn Polaris crashed on takeoff from the helideck and fell into icy waters at 1430 hrs. On takeoff from the helideck, the net carrying the under slung cargo got entangled with the structure of the ship. As the under slung load was not ejected, the load got struck to the obstruction and the helicopter over pitched and fell into the freezing waters adjacent to the ship. With God’s Mi-8 after the accident, floating near MS Finnpolaris grace, all on board the ill-fated Mi-8 helicopter was rescued. One of the members of the IAF Team has reviewed the reasons for the accident in the succeeding paragraphs. On the day of the accident, the crew had successfully flown an earlier sortie to Base Camp, and this was the second sortie. The load was of assorted materials and was placed in a cargo net and placed on an extended part of the helideck. In the extended part of the helideck, the rotor tip clearance while picking up load would be about 5 metres from the crane mast and hence critical. A person with a VHF set was positioned to warn the crew of any inadvertent drift towards, the obstruction. The crew consisted of a very experienced captain who was also Right-Hand Seat Qualified Pilot. During the sortie, he opted to fly the helicopter the right seat. The co-pilot, less experienced on MI8- helicopter was asked to fly the helicopter from the left seat. The crashed helicopter being lifted on to the deck As the Flt Engr was doing the duties of the Flt Gnr, he hovered over the crashed floating helicopter and lowered was deployed in the passenger cabin to monitor the the winch sling from about 30 feet or so. The Flt Engr had obstructions. The obstruction was to the right side of the hurt himself and was bleeding from the nose. So, he was helicopter as the helicopter hovered to pick up load (i.e., the one to be rescued first. As soon he was strapped, the towards the side of the Captain seated on the right seat). helicopter increased height and with him on the winch, The load was picked up correctly and the helicopter moved moved over to the deck, about 50 feet away and lowered on left to the centre of the helipad before take-off. to the deck. The helicopter then went in to rescue the next During this process, the load touched the ground. The person. The Captain put on the sling, and as he was being take-off was commenced with the load on and off the lifted, another person clung on to his feet. Bothe were lifted ground. As soon as the load left the helideck, the helicopter up, but when the lowest person was about 10 feet from the sank sharply, turned left, almost 360 degrees. In its water surface, he fell down into the water. When the captain flightpath, the rotors hit the side of the ship and the was about 30 feet of the water, he to slipped through the helicopter crashed into the sea, finally resting belly up. sling and fell into water. The crew managed to get out of the helicopter through the In the meantime, the ship had activated its rescue boat. hatch in the clamshell door. The expedition Surgeon also jumped into that boat. They During this entire period, a Naval Chetak was on the rescued all the other crew in water and then proceeded to approach path area waiting to land. As soon as the accident pick up the captain. As soon as he was picked up, the took place, he commenced the rescue operations. He surgeon started reviving him. The boat soon came to see

40 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 ice, and the personnel were transferred to the hospital of switched on by captain/co-pilot too), during hover just the ship for first aid. prior to take off. Apparently this had not been done and A few underslung sorties were undertaken before this hence the load did not release when it touched the ground accident. They were mainly portacabins and were slung during take-off. (THIS IS CONSIDERED A RECURRING using the helicopter sling cables and the ground to SERIOUS LAPSE OF PROCEDURE, SINCE THIS HAS helicopter height in hover was not significant (say about 5 BEEN EXPERIENCED, MANY TIMES). m). However, the accident sortie was the first with the newly In cargo sling flights, the pilot flying from the acquired cargo net. Its full characteristics had never been authorised captain’s seat should be fully well versed and tested out in actual flying trials. Prudence would have qualified on type since the cargo release switch is also on advised a graduated performance trial of the crew, helicopter, the Captain’s collective and this operation cannot be carried and the equipment in such circumstances. It is felt that the out by the co-pilot. load could have been much lower say 500-1000kg for the In hindsight first sortie, increasing gradually to the full potential, as In hindsight it is felt that for such a mission of national required. The stretch of the net and the need to hover higher importance, the rules and regulations could have been much etc would have come to light if this graduated performance more stringent. The pilots who would fly as captains (from operations procedure were adopted. captains’ seat) could have been nominated and similarly Flying Procedures for other crew members. The sortie parameters were not considered to be near Special Ops such as underslung sorties from a deck, the performance boundary limit of the crew, helicopter, and should be rehearsed preferably with same crew equipment. If it were considered so, the crew combination combinations and similar environment. Hovering high over could have been accordingly upgraded, the experienced a ship deck, puts the ship out of view of the frontal view of pilot could have flown from the captain seat, and provisions the pilots, and much higher skill levels are required. If need made for the absence of Flt Engr in the cockpit during such be special procedure need to be adopted to ensure performance boundary operations, more so when both the successful completion of the task, safely. pilots are busy looking outside. It may also be recalled that the Indian Navy was The correct procedure for take-off for an underslung originally planned to operate its Sea King helicopters on flight, is to switch on the auto-release switch in steady this expedition. They opted out of this for whatever reasons. hover and then execute the take off. This switch is normally It may be worthwhile studying that aspect too. put on by the Flt Engr on captain’s command (it can be

Continued from page-37 the right seat and Wg Cdr RS Tandon, the co-pilot, flying Training from the left seat. The Flt Engr was doing the duties of the Flt Gnr. It is now reported that Mi8 was to do most of the sorties, to underslung load from ship to the Base camp. If this was the case, then extensive underslung sorties with similar The helicopter team which contributed to loads could have been undertaken during pre-expedition the success of the Third Antarctica training/preparations. In fact, the net to be used for the underslung operations, was a new item procured from the Expedition (1983-85) market, and never used before by the crew. In the first sortie Lt Cdr. R.S. Gill IN, it was used, the net stretched quite a bit (the total length of Cdr(P) S.K. Chandna IN, the net became almost 10-15m) and hence the helicopter had to hover higher to lift the load. Lt Cdr A.S. Chouhan IN, On the day of the accident, the crew had flown an earlier Lt Cdr NP Singh IN, sortie to Base Camp, and this was as subsequent sortie. Wg Cdr B.D. Madhok Pilot IAF, The load was of assorted materials and was placed in a Wg Cdr V Natarajan V.M. Pilot IAF, cargo net and placed on an extended part of the helideck. The rotor tip clearance while picking up load would be Flt Lt Ajit Kumar Pilot IAF, about 5metres from the crane mast and hence critical. A Wg Cdr S. Tandon Pilot IAF, person with a VHF set was positioned to warn the crew of any inadvertent drift towards, the obstruction. Flt Lt V.M. Khanna Flight Engineer IAF, Flt Lt The crew consisted of Wg Cdr Madhok (Right Hand Roy Flight Engineer IAF, Seat Qualified Pilot), captain of the helicopter flying from Sqn Ldr K.I. Trivedi Met Officer IAF

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Meeting Summary of Global Leader Safety Discussion on 18 Dec 20 The meeting opened by Jim Viola President HAI, expansion of the program to enable growth, collaboration, welcoming all attendees, and providing a basic overview and inclusion of all stakeholders and (c) Governance model of the meeting purpose.The participants at the meeting is key. Objective is to enhance partnership between industry included Isabella Abbate EHA, Yoshi Arakawa AHIJ and government. ,Clément Audard ESPN-R, Francisco Esquivel Chile HST, An EXCOM, as currently employed in IHST, may not Timothy Fauchon BHA, ESPN-R, Ana Claudia Galvao Brazil be an effective/efficient governance body. EXCOM would HST, Michael Hertzendorf HAI,Chris Hill HAI,Ludmila potentially be an unnecessary “layer.” Lyamets Russia HST,Chris Martino HAI, Nick Mayhew US HST, Peter Moeller EHA, Loreto Moraga ACHHEL, Chile IVSCC supports regional teams continuing the work HAI, as the international vertical HST, Hiro Onishi AHIJ, AVM K. Sridharan RWSI, India HST, they are currently doing. lift association, will continue to lead in the coordination/ Jim Viola HAI, Rob Volmer HAI and Osamu Washida Japan administration of the IVSCC, in a similar manner to its HST. Attendees were provided the opportunity to introduce involvement with the IHST.IVSCC is envisioned as a more themselves and their represented organizations. efficient organization, enabling the participation of all Following introductions, Jim Viola provided a short stakeholders including ICAO, which already partners with presentation on the proposed expansion of the International regional bodies. Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) and introduced the concept of the International VTOL (Vertical Takeoff/Landing) Safety Regional team representatives could effectively IVSCC Coordination Council (IVSCC). In addition to a short history included in coordination council leadership rotation. would also include, in some manner, participation of aircraft of recent IHST activities, Mr. Viola presented the following manufacturers (OEMs). OEMs have a large interest in key points: industry safety, and often must choose which, of several, The IHST has struggled recently in several areas, but safety organizations in which they participate. IVSCC will particularly in its effort to transition to an International provide a more centralized approach. Helicopter Safety Foundation (IHSF) and in terms of HAI is working to establish an internal staffing solution leadership gaps. for IVSCC program support.Regional safety team The IHST construct has not been conducive to driving representatives, in leadership roles, will provide tangible collaboration between regional safety teams, International value to IVSCC, in terms of local knowledge: (a) Missions, Federation of Helicopter Association (IFHA) members, (b) Operational environments, (c) Regulations, (d) Cultural regulators, or other industry stakeholders. A renewed effort differences IVSCC will be open to include UAS domains, to is necessary to advance international vertical lift safety. include eVTOL and developing Advanced Air Mobility The international vertical lift industry is expanding (e.g., (AAM) operational areas. unmanned systems, eVTOL, advanced air mobility concepts, UAS could potential be added as another coordination etc). As such, the IHST needs to expand to remain relevant council working group, along with regulations, technology, and effective.Data driven efforts, purposeful sharing of and promotion groups. information, and a culture of collaboration are necessary to Attendees agreed that leveraging ongoing work of eliminate segregation across regions and prevent regional teams will be critical, and that improving duplicative efforts. collaboration between teams will create more efficient The attendees of this meeting will be critical to the programs. development of the IVSCC governance model. IVSCC will not “direct” regional safety teams· A s Upcoming events/deadlines:(a)Mr. Viola will present the team continues to develop the governance model, the the IVSCC to the IHST the week of 21 December role of regulators will need to be refined/clarified. 2020,(b)Provide IVSCC brief to ICAO leadership within the ICAO could potentially hold a co-chair position, next 30-60 days. and (c)Launch IVSCC in the March 2021 subsequently enhancing ICAO’s engagement with the timeframe. vertical lift industry and increasing ICAO’s attention (and Initial input is needed from this meeting’s attendees resources) towards the industry. All attendees agreed that and their organizations to establish a governance structure, increased ICAO interaction with the vertical lift industry including identifying leadership co-chairs and term lengths/ would have a positive impact on safety.Resources currently rotations. held by IHST would be available for IVSCC use and will Following Mr. Viola’s presentation, the group engaged continue to be available to regional teams. in open discussion with the following items Finally, the transport of COVID vaccines was discussed. covered:(a)Criticality of harmonized outreach and marketing Due to the nature of the vaccines, rotorcraft transport could to ensure an effective introduction of the IVSCC to industry. be overly complex. Tim Fauchon offered to collaborate Participants must have common understanding of data with any other members/organizations with an interest in flow.,(b)The IVSCC is not an addition to the IHST, it is an these operations. Meeting adjourned.

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HAI Holds International Partnership Program (IPP) Meeting

The Helicopter Association International (HAI) held Chris Martino Senior Director of Operations and its first meeting of the International Partnership Program International Affairs HAI then requested the participants (IPP) with RWSI on 30 Oct 20. The Virtual Meeting was to give short introduction (5 min each) of each association organized by HAI, (a) to strengthen the international Vertical and outline the top regional priority and international Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) community through open priority. He was followed by a short address from the discussion, collaboration, and unity of purpose; (b) to representatives of Association for Promotion of Helicopter provide the venue for recurring discussions amongst VTOL Industry Japan, Paul Terrell of Australian Helicopter industry leaders; and (c) to eliminate disjointed, redundant, Industry Association,Gp Capt Tim Fauchon of British or competing industry programs. Helicopter Association, Loreto Moraga of Chilean Association of Helicopters, Peter Moeller of European The President HAI, Jim Voila welcomed the participants Helicopter Association, Jim Viola of Helicopter Association to the meeting and outlined the meeting objectives as International, Johnny Laing Helicopter Association of follows: (a) Provide an initial overview of the program; (b) Southern Africa, AVM K.Sridharan of Rotary Wing Society Provide industry leaders the opportunity to become of India Most of the speakers outlined the hassles faced acquainted with each other, and understand the various by the Helicopter operators owing to Covid-19 and felt that association priorities; (c) To gain the commitment of all over regulations are impacting the Industry adversely. They associations to the principles of collaboration and open also felt the need to strengthen the existing institutions communications to achieve a unity of effort across the such as IFHA and IHSF to serve the VTOL Communities international industry. better. It was also unanimously agreed to hold the next meeting of the IPP after 3 months.

RWSI & HAI AGREE to hold Monthly Meeting to Progress International Partnership Program The Helicopter Association RWSI took the initiative to give International (HAI) held its first a Demo Lecture on - Mountain meeting with RWSI to finalize the Flying * (Wg Cdr BS Singh Deo) MOU related to the 15 min and Demo lecture - Third- the International Partnership Party Audits * (Gp Capt R. Joshi) Program on 10 Nov 20. RWSI office 15-minute demos are for bearers made PPs about RWSI, Profile progressing HAI accreditation of the Indian Civil Helicopter Industry of RWSI to conduct Safety thru James A. Viola and suggested changes in respect of President and CEO Education Program of IPP on the proposed MOU between HAI & AVM K Sridharan VM (G) President RWSI aeronautical subjects and Safety RWSI. Most importantly, both parties agreed to hold Audits for better compliance of monthly meeting on the first Thursday of every month to Regulatory norms on safety by the helicopter operators in progress the IPP. the Region. The Helicopter Association International (HAI) held In the concluding remarks, HAI Representatives felt its first meeting with RWSI on IPP during 03 Dec 20. The that the standard of Demo Lectures was excellent and Virtual Meeting was organized by HAI. At the meeting, educative.

RWSI MISSION RWSI’s mission and reason for existence is to serve the helicopter community’s needs and to promote the Industry. Professional and Safety related programmes are essential requirements in today’s complex and competitive environment.

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DG IMD Assures Helicopter Operators more Weather Facilities Dear Readers, share various meteorological issues affecting safe helicopter During the last 30 years (1990-2020), Weather was a operations in the Country. The details of the discussions factor in 15 Civil Helicopter Accidents. In many cases the held between RWSI and IMD officials on 19 Nov 20 are pilot did not have the benefit of weather forecast as they reported at pages 2 & 3 in this publication. took off from locations having no Weather Station or In his concluding remarks, RWSI who organized the Weather Forecast Facilities. All these accidents were fatal. meeting appealed to DG IMD to extend the following A review of these weather related fatal civil helicopter facilities for accurate weather to make safer helicopter accidents revealed some interesting facts. During 1990- operations; (a) Network of Doppler Radars, (b) Installation 2000, the only weather-related accident was related to a of Remote Observatories (onshore and offshore), (c) cheetah helicopter. Among the10 weather-related accidents Setting up of webcams at remote locations, (d) Weather during 2001-11, 4 x SE helicopters and 6 x Twin Engine App in smart phones and (e) Training -Train the Trainer to helicopters were involved. During 2012-2018 there were four be conducted by IMD and Training Capsule in IMD weather-related fatal accidents in which 1 xSE helicopter website. and 3xTwin Engine helicopters were involved. In all, more The meeting ended with assurance from Dr.M. Twin-Engine helicopters were involved in weather-related Mohapatra DG, IMD and Ms. Usha Padhee IAS Jt. Secy. accidents. In all these accidents, the pilot lost situational MOCA that many of the wish list submitted by RWSI would awareness and inadvertently flew the aircraft into the water/ be progressed. Hopefully, during the year 2021 some mountain slope because of the combined effects of the promises made may materialize. lack of external visual references and weak instrument flying Notwithstanding the availability of accurate weather skills. information, the pilots are to be extremely careful not to be influenced by passengers, who may be VIP, to influence An aviation weather forecast from an authorized source your judgement whether to continue with the flight in is an important factor that helps pilots to make a carefully adverse weather. The necessity to get home (Homeitis) has reasoned GO/NO GO decision. Since majority of helicopter been a factor for pilots to press on regardless of marginal operations take place at or below 3000 feet agl, weather weather. Establish clearly in your mind the en-route information provided by IMD is not adequate. To address conditions, the forecast, and possible diversions in case of this long pending issue, RWSI requested DG IMD to deteriorating weather. Please do not forget, Land and live participate in a VC where the helicopter operators could option is always there.

Core Committee set upto look into issues faced by the Helicopter Operators “During the discussions held under the Chairpersonship of Smt. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MOCA on 30 Sept 2020, a high-level team from DGCA, AAI, BCAS participated along with the representatives from RWSI. During discussions, JS suggested that DGCA set up a core committee to look into the issues raised by the Industry body. The committee should meet regularly to discuss the problems being faced by the industry. The DGCA team led by Shri Ravi Krishna, JDG readily accepted the suggestion. He also asked RWSI to nominate Capt Uday Gelli, industry veteran with 45 years of experience, to be a member of this committee. The committee is expected to meet regularly to discuss various issues faced by the industry. RWSI believes that this is an encouraging development and expects to resolve many issues / problems faced by the industry.

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Record of discussion held on 19 Nov 2020 at 1500 hrs between MOCA, IMD and RWSI on Meteorological Issues Affecting the Civil Helicopter Industry

The meeting via Video Conference was held to discuss weather report could have prevented the accidents. Giving weather reporting issues related to Civil helicopter industry example of the FAA Met web site, he hoped that similar on 19 Nov 20. The following officials participated in the featurescould be developed in India. event: - 2. Air Marshal A. S. Butola (Retd.) stated that remote a) Ms. Usha Padhee, IAS Jt. Secy. MOCA weather stations are being used extensively in the Indian b) Dr.M. Mohapatra, DG, IMD Air Force. c) Mr. Uday Shende, Scientist E, CRS Pune, Surface 3. A wishlist of some Helicopter pilots was then put up. Instrument Division, IMD This list included: d) Mr. Gajendra Kumar Scientist F, DGM, New Delhi, a) Coverage of weather at uncontrolled airports CAMD, IMD e) Mr. KN Mohan Scientist, CRS–Pune, Surface b) 10-day weather forecast availability (like other Instrument Division IMD websites) f) Mr. CS Tamar Scientist E, DGM, New Delhi, CAMD, c) More enhanced coloured satellite picture (e.g. IMD windy.com) g) Gp.Capt. Ashish Kapoor, Sr.FOI(H) DGCA d) Real time cloud movement (there is a option in the h) Wg Cdr PK Sinha , FOI(H) DGCA Doppler radar page but is never operational) i) Gp.Capt. S S Prasad, GM(L)Aviation Safety, Helibase, ONGC e) Option to generate route charts – does not show j) Wg. Cdr.Bhawesh Upadhyay, CM(L)-Aviation, any data (blank) Aviation Safety, Helibase, ONGC f) Option to check high /medium and low clouds is not k) Mr. Sanjay Kumar, GM (NR)PHL available l) Gp Capt. R. K. Singh, Director Flight Operations, PHL g) Low level winds data below 5000ft will be helpful for m) Mr. P. K. Markan, Joint General Manager (Civil), PHL helicopters n) Mr. Sanjay Kumar, General Manager (CPMS) PHL h) Rain accumulation o) Capt. Allan D’Gama, Senior Vice President, head offshore operation, GVHL i) Auto refresh – after a few minutes the website logs p) Capt. Ranjit Varma, Pilot, RIL off q) Capt.Avinash Kumar Garg, Chief Pilot, Span j) Sea state, sea temp and swell information as per the Pvt Ltd- distance E.g. -30-60-90-120nm r) Gp.Capt. Varun Sharma, Life Member RWSI k) An IMD app will be very helpful s) AVM K Sridharan, President RWSI l) ATIS and METAR information to be displayed once t) Air Marshal Arvind Butola, Former AOC-in-C Training clicked on a specific airport. Command IAF u) Wg.Cdr. B S Singh Deo, Vice President RWSI m) Offshore weather update. v) Gp. Capt. MK Labroo, Secretary General RWSI n) Barometric pressure option on the satellite picture w) Wg. Cdr. VP Mathur, CGI, RWSI o) Make ‘Rapid IMD’ an exclusive mobile application. x) Wg. Cdr. Ramesh Mallik, GC Member RWSI p) Adverse weather training instructors should be y) Capt. Rajat Kaura, Director Projects RWSI trained by IMD z) Ms. Kalpana Dhar, Director (Admin & Finance) RWSI q) Preferably “Pilot Report” could be added in IMD The meeting commenced at 1500hrs, with AVM K website. Sridharan, President RWSI welcoming the members. Thereafter the agenda points were r) Weather near airfields should not define a larger area which cannot be correctly covered, e.g, Delhi Palam met discussed as covered in subsequent conditions should not decide weather of various paragraphs. satellite helipads which are 15 to 20 KM away from the Presentation Made by Wg. Cdr. airport. B. S. Singh Deo s) Overlapping of the available tools which cover 1. Safety record shows several various meteorological data. VIP and other helicopter flights met t) Weather “METAR” of offshore oil fields. with accidents where weather was a contributory factor. A more accurate u) Weather in regular use helipads in the hills to be

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 45 <> updated on the IMD web site / app. Observations from satellites 4. Wg. Cdr. Singh Deo concluded that the need of the Forecast products hour is: Mobile App a. Network of Doppler Radars Presentation of information on a usable platform b. Installation of Remote Observatories (onshore and 13. Many of these steps have already been offshore) implemented, but, perhaps not been communicated properly c. Setting up of webcams at remote locations to the users. As for the most important aspect-Training, it d. Weather App in smart phones and, was clarified that IMD already has a training module e. Training - Train the Trainer to be conducted by IMD available and modules specific for helicopters can be and Training Capsule in IMD website. developed. Remarks by Capt. Ashish Kapoor 14. Satellite observations are available for use and we (SFOI-H) and Capt. P. K. Sinha (FOI- can work together to make it better and accessible. The DG H) suggested setting up of a working group that may include 5. Spatial Disorientation caused members from MOCA, IMD and RWSI. by poor visibility has caused 15. IMD does not have capability to provide accidents, especially in offshore observations at each helipad basically because of lack of regions. Flights could have been funds. However, there are only 10 automated weather avoided if visibility conditions in the systems that can be put on 10 helipads. This will fall short offshore area was known. of the requirements. 6. Pilots are using apps which 16. Radars are employed in plain areas. In hilly areas, are available commercially like “Windy”. He suggested that IMD is planning X-Band Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) IMD consider the points given and help improve the that may come up shortly (10 X-Band DWRs by 2021 and 8 presentation and the aviation weather forecast for helicopter more by 2022). These could be installed over hilly areas of operations. , NE and Western Himalayas. 7. Offshore helicopter pilots depend on weather inputs 17. The DG stated that Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh provided by ONGC and Reliance Industries Limited in has requested for Automated Weather Observing Systems Mumbai High and on the East Coast in the Krishna Godavari for helipad H-AWOS). IMD is currently pursuing this for Basin. It was suggested that weather inputs from ONGC possible installation of HAWOS with funding support from and Reliance Industries Ltd from the offshore platforms MoCA. could be shared with IMD which could then post the same 18.DG-M added that IMD has come a long way and on its website. In a similar manner weather pictures from can provide hourly forecast and also forecast upto 7 days Aviation Cameras at remote locations and helidecks could for planning purposes. As for helicopters, a short range be shared on the IMD web portal. forecast of 3 days or upto 36 hours would be beneficial. He 8. Under UDAN scheme there is a proposal to use concluded by saying that a working group should be set Army/ IAF owned helipads by civil helicopters. There is a up to take up all these issues. need for synergy amongst various stake holders to ensure Ms. Usha Padhee, Joint that weather inputs are shared with civil helicopter pilots. Secretary, Ministry of Civil 9. Automatic Weather Stations should be installed in Aviation the RCS routes on priority. We may also have a link with 19. Ms. Padhee thanked RWSI the nearest Air Force stations for sharing weather data. and IMD for making this interactive 10. A capsule course for interpretation of satellite meeting happen. pictures may be conducted for helicopter pilots under the 20. She added that the aegis of IMD. advantage of the versatility of Remarks by Dr. M. Mohapatra, helicopters would be lost if Director General - Meteorology operations are not absolutely safe. 11.DG-M, IMD welcomed the MOCA has worked with the Airport honoured guest and other Authority of India to improve the communication system participants and thanked RWSI for in some of the offshore activities and is working with State organising this meeting. Governments to support the helicopter operators by simplifying the procedures and other supports. So this 12. The DG mentioned that meeting with IMD is one such initiative which would be among many things that IMD can very useful. support, some are:- ...... Continued in next page

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First Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) At Kufri, Shimla

On 21 Nov 20, the MeT office at Shimla installed the first doppler weather radar (DWR) at Kufri, for more precise area-specific weather forecasts and warnings for a particular place. The range of this radar is up to 100 km (radial distance) and it will observe and provide the weather data of 100 km in all directions, which will be used for forecasting purposes, especially for the short-range forecast (nowcasting). The radar has been installed on test mode for a period of two weeks, and thereafter its data will be used for forecasting purposes. Two more radars would be installed in Mandi and Dalhousie in Chamba District. The site for the radar at Mandi had already been finalised and its NOC from the state.

Continued from page 46 Record of Discussion held on 19 Nov 2020 Between MOCA, IMD and RWSI on Met Issues

21. Present requirement is an integrated approach of RCS and these can be used to augment weather observation the stakeholders who have to be very proactive. The equipment already being used by IMD. Methodology for weather issue is a very key and crucial one and is crucial use of available funds can be worked out. for safety of operations. 25. Execution of the task can be done through State 22. IMD has done much and the defence has much of Governments or PHL with expert advice from IMD and RWSI. resources. So the best way forward would bring everyone 26. A Task Force should be set up under the aegis of together and leverage each other’s strengths. MOCA with members of IMD, RWSI, DGCA and PHL. 23. The concrete suggestion on training can be There being no points for discussion, Wg Cdr BS Singh finalised. Pawan Hans can collaborate with RWSI and IMD Deo VP RWSI thanked the esteemed participants and and can provide resources for the training. brought the meeting to a close at 1545 Hrs. 24. Funding is available for some of the helipads in the

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Panchshil Realty Partners with India Pvt Ltd to Start Heli- Services between Pune & Mumbai

12 Nov 20 .Pune-based Panchshil Realty has announced that it has partnered with Fly Blade India Pvt. Ltd. to start operating daily helicopter services between Pune and Mumbai from Panchshil’s YOO Villas helipad in Pune. YOO Villas is an exclusive enclave of signature villas designed by global celebrity designer Kelly Hoppen and is located close to the bustling business district of Kharadi in East Pune. At the moment, this helicopter service is the only air connectivity option as there are no commercial flights operating between Pune and Mumbai. Outbound Left to Right are Karanpal Singh, Founder & Managing Director-Hunch Ventures & and inbound passengers looking for quick air connectivity Investments Pvt. Ltd.; Amit Dutta-Fly Blade India M.D.; Sagar Chordia, Director-Panchshil with Mumbai now have a convenient option. Realty & Col. Vijay Chandrachud-Panchshil Realty at the MOU signing This helicopter service is a fly-by-seat solution where users pay only for the required number of seats just like they would when flying with any commercial . e India is currently offering two services a day from the YOO Villas helipad, Pune to Mumbai and two services a day from Mumbai to YOO Villas helipad. The services will operate to Mahalaxmi Race Course in south Mumbai and to suburban Juhu.

Work towards making Udan Schedule Sustainable

Shri Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, MoCA has required for the UDAN scheme across the country. stated that the stakeholders should work towards making Smt. Usha Padhee, JS, MoCA thanked the stakeholders the UDAN scheme sustainable on its own and improve its for their combined efforts and continuous support in efficiency. During a video conference to commemorate the making the UDAN scheme a success. She added that UDAN day, he said that UDAN scheme has established Government of India has acknowledged the contribution the importance of travelling by air for common man specially of UDAN initiative and identified 21st October 2020 (the to far flung areas. Shri Kharola congratulated the day on which the UDAN Scheme document was first stakeholders and UDAN team for making the scheme released) as UDAN Day. successful with untiring efforts. He urged the airlines to RCS-UDAN, "Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik" is a undertake marketing initiatives so that more and more Government of India's flagship program which aims to people can take benefit of the UDAN scheme. Senior provide affordable, economically viable and profitable air officials from AAI, DGCA, MoCA and airlines also joined travel on regional routes. This Regional Connectivity the video conference. Scheme offers unique opportunity to a common man to fly Shri Kharola said that one of the most important features at an affordable price. UDAN has played a major role in of the scheme is that different agencies collaborated and adding new airports and routes to the aviation landscape synchronised their efforts towards the success of the of the country. 50 unserved and underserved airports scheme. He added that UDAN has created a virtuous circle (including 5 heliports) with 285 routes have been added wherein the UDAN routes feed the national network and under UDAN across the length and breadth of India. As the national routes further create new opportunities for the the implementing agency, AAI has an ambitious plan to people across the country who then generate demand for develop at least 100 airports/waterdromes/heliports by 2024 more regional routes. Shri Arvind Singh, Chairman, AAI under the Scheme. said that AAI is committed to build the infrastructure

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Industry Friends, Greetings from MRO Association of India The Global Novel Corona pandemic has had a severe impact on the aviation industry globally, including the MRO industry. In this New Normal situation, B2B events and conferences are being held digitally and our annual event Aero MRO India – Aviation & Defence 2021 is also being staged digitally next year in three parts – Inauguration by Sri P. S. Kharola, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation on Jan 30th 2021,(Civil MRO) the second part to be held on Saturday, February 27, 2021 (Civil Military co-operation), ending with the Award Announcement on Saturday, March 27, 2021. This year’s theme is AatmaNirbhar Bharat – A self-reliant India, a clarion call given by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Aero MRO India – Aviation & Defence 2021 will be held virtually on a web platform which is total indigenous and will be active for a period of four months starting from January period for the delegates to hold meetings with the participating companies and other delegates on this platform. MRO Association of India is providing the industry stakeholders and the support industries an unique platform which we are sure you will utilise to is maximum limits to promote your products and services and network with your potential customers too. Hence, kindly block your dates for AERO MRO INDIA A&D 2021. Look forward to your support. Pulak Sen Founder and Secretary General MRO Association of India

Pulak Sen, Founder & Secretary General MRO Association of India Head - Aerospace & Defence Handheld: +91 - 8105097016, Email: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.mroassociation.in

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Airbus Helicopters’ 1,400th H135 is delivered to HEMS Operator Mont Blanc

In late September, the light twin-engine helicopter reached a major milestone: the company’s 1,400th H135 was delivered to the French operator Mont Blanc, adding to a fleet of more than 20 H135 and H145 helicopters in service with the operator to provide Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in France. The milestone capped off an over-20- year history for the programme and cements the H135 as a leader in the HEMS industry, currently holding 25% of the global market share for HEMS and boasting over 650 units in service. Lives in the balance. Transferring patients from one care center to another is a complex operation even in the best of times. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to transfer critical care patients has become a crucial ability that helps reduces pilot workload, increases situational awareness and swing the balance in what often are life and death situations, enhances overall flight safety. Helionix also is night-vision freeing up resources for health care systems under stress. ready, further augmenting mission capabilities and safety “As the benchmark for HEMS helicopters, the H135 is the when the H135 is operated in darkness or in low visibility safest, most reliable and most economic platform – arriving conditions. As an environmentally friendly rotorcraft, the at the scene on time…every time,” explained Martin H135 is the most efficient in terms of CO2 emissions, as Schneider, Airbus Helicopters’ Head of the H135 programme. well as the quietest in its category of helicopters. “There are more than 650 H135s in emergency medical More than five decades of HEMS expertise. Benefitting service duties, operated by thousands of pilots and medics from over five decades of HEMS experience, Airbus who protect and save lives each day. provides much more than just highly capable rotorcraft. The best fit for HEMS. Since first entering service in Working with established partners, it defines best-fit 1996, the H135 family of helicopters has gone through equipment and systems solutions that are tailored to regular improvements in performance and capabilities. In customers’ specific requirements, as well as supporting order to respond to the unique needs for HEMS operators, operators in establishing their business models. the programme has taken an active role by conducting Additionally, Airbus offers services and solutions based conferences, interviews, questionnaires, and surveys, as on its extensive experience in HEMS. They range from well as using Reliability Data Group (RDG) customer input assessing a country’s specific needs, conducting and reliability figures. As operators seek to improve on- workshops, organizing medical and operational training board care, adding more specialized medical equipment, programmes, all the way to providing in-country on-the- which translates to increased load, the H135 team went to ground support. The Airbus Foundation also plays a role work. The results? The latest H135 version has an increased by sponsoring dedicated training programmes with HEMS maximum take-off weight of 90 kg and a useful load increase doctors from the French Academy of Medicine Foundation of up to 225 kg, allowing HEMS operators to explore new (FAM). In 2019, the Airbus Foundation and FAM trained possibilities for the care provided during transit. Other nearly 215 doctors and rescue personnel in India, China improvements have focused on the airframe, engine, and and Indonesia. Overall more than 1,100 professionals from cockpit; mission equipment; maintenance and reliability, to around the world have benefited from this initiative. name a few. Versatile for a wide range of missions. Overall, H135s Focus on safety and performance in critical missions. are operated for a wide range of missions by more than 290 From the operational point of view, Airbus’ introduction of customers in 65 countries. In addition to HEMS, this the Helionix avionics suite – which was exclusively helicopter family is deployed for law enforcement, private designed for helicopters and includes a 4-axis autopilot – and business aviation, offshore windfarm management, and military flight training.

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Bell's V-280 Brings Twice the Speed and Twice the Range The Bell V-280 Valor provides warfighters strategic Carieer Operations options, operational reach, tactical agility and overmatch at the point of decision. The Bell V-280 Valor design supports ground maneuver and is purpose built for the squad plus enablers. Safe and survivable, the design features integrated cabin armor, fly- by-wire component redundancy, state of the art countermeasures and performance. Bell Helicopter’s design to build technology used on the V-280 Valor significantly enhances manufacturing, assembly, and sustainability, while greatly reducing the total cost of ownership. Advanced tiltrotor speed and range provides commanders access not currently available. With more than twice the speed and range of current helicopter platforms, the Bell V-280 Valor provides access to get to the objective while providing superior agility at the objective. Team Valor’s mission equipment package enables enroute situational understanding through digitally fused reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence and friendly force information. Airborne battle boards bring fused data and mission updates to the cabin for real-time tracking. The V- 280 will provide technology overmatch at an affordable price point. The Future is Now. Mountain Operations

Humanitarian Assistance

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US Arms Sales to India Zoomed to $3.4 Billion in Trump Govt’s Final Year Between 1950 and 2020, US sale of arms to India under FMS category was $12.8 billion

India's weapons procurement from the US jumped from For Pakistan, the official figures reflected that sale of a meagre $6.2 million to a whopping $3.4 billion in the final weapons under FMS did happen, even though there was a year of the Donald Trump administration, according to freeze in any military and security assistance to Islamabad official data. from the Trump administration. As per the data released by the Defense Security In 2020, US sale of weapons to Pakistan was $146 Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the jump in the sale of million, in 2018 it was $65 million and in 2017 it was $22 American weapons to India comes at a time when sale of million.In 2019, there was no sale of US military weapons to weapons from the US to other countries has dipped to $50.8 Pakistan. In fact, the US refunded $10.8 million to Pakistan, billion in 2020 from $55.7 billion in 2019.In 2019, the sale of taken for the purchase of weapons.Between 1950 and 2020, US weapons to foreign countries was $55.7 billion. In 2017, Pakistan purchased weapons worth $10 billion from the US it was $41.9 billion, it said. under FMS.However, the total supply of American military Major buyers of American weapons in 2020 were India weapons to Pakistan is much more, as a major chunk of ($3.4 billion up from $6.2 million in fiscal year 2019), Morocco weapons to Pakistan has gone from United States as military ($4.5 billion up from $12.4 million), Poland ($4.7 billion up and security assistance. from $673 million), ($1.3 billion up from $137 According to the Assistant Secretary of State for million), Taiwan ($11.8 billion up from $876 million) and the Political Military Affairs Clarke Cooper, fiscal 2020 saw a United Arab Emirates ($3.6 billion up from $1.1 billion), the total of $175.8 billion in US government-authorised arms data showed.Several countries reported a drop in purchase exports. This is overall a 2.8 per cent increase since fiscal of weapons from the US. year 2019. Prominent among them were Saudi Arabia, which came The overall value of State Department-authorised down from $14.9 billion in 2019 to $1.2 billion in 2020, government-to-government FMS cases implemented by the Afghanistan ($1.1 billion down from $1.6 billion), Belgium Defense Security Cooperation Agency decreased 8.3 per ($41.8 million down from $5.5 billion), Iraq ($368 million down cent from $55.39 billion in Fiscal Year 2019 to $50.78 billion from $1.4 billion) and South Korea ($2.1 billion down from in Fiscal Year 2020. "The dollar value of potential FMS $2.7 billion). sales, formally notified to Congress, also rose by more than According to the 2020 edition of the Historical Sales 50 per cent from $58.33 billion to $87.64 billion. This was Book, India purchased weapons worth $754.4 million in 2017 driven by the July potential sale of $23.11 billion worth of and $282 million in 2018. Between 1950 and 2020, US sale of F-35 aircraft to Japan, which was the second-largest single weapons to India under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) FMS notification ever authorised by the Department of category was $12.8 billion. State,” Cooper said

MH-60 R (US Navy via Wikimedia Commons) and AH-64E Apache (Boeing); India is purchasing both types of helicopters from the US

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300th ALH (Dhruv) Rolls-out from HAL Hangar

Bengaluru, September 29, 2020: In a yet another major fillip to indigenous programme, 300th Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) rolled out from the HAL hangar here today. Speaking on the occasion, Mr R Madhavan, CMD, HAL said ALH never looked back from the day when the prototype took its maiden flight on August 30, 1992 and has evolved into a world class helicopter with unparalleled performance. “The evolution from ALH Mark-I to Mark- IV has been phenomenal and is a boost to the indigenous design and development of helicopters”, he added. The Roll-out certificate of the 300th helicopter was handed over to Mr G. V. S. Bhaskar, Chief Out of this, 38 ALHs have already been produced and the Executive Officer, Helicopter Complex by Mr Y K Sharma, remaining will be completed by 2022. LCH Ground Run: On Additional Director General (South Zone), Directorate this occasion the ‘Ground Run’ of the first Limited Series General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) at a Production (LSP) of Light Combat Helicopter-Limited Series programme held at HAL’s Helicopter Division. Production (LCH-LSP) was carried out. This project has Mr Bhaskar said ‘Rolling-out of 300th ALH is a been taken up by the Company proactively while the order testimony to the capabilities HAL has built over the years from Services on HAL is in process. The LCH was piloted with concerted efforts of employees and customer support. by Gp Capt (Retd) Hari Krishnan Nair S, Chief Test Pilot “With more ALH getting inducted into the services our and Gp Capt (Retd) C G Narasimha Prasad, Senior Flight focus on customer support is ever increasing. With over Test Engineer of Flight Operations, Rotary Wing. 2,80,000 flying hours ALH has proven to be a multirole Mr S Anbuvelan, Executive Director, Helicopter helicopter for Any Mission, Any Place, Any Time”, he said. Division, Wg Cdr (Retd) Unni Pillai, Executive Director Currently, HAL is producing 73 ALHs contracted for (Flight Operations-Rotary Wing), Mr V Sivasubramanian, Army (41), Indian Navy (16) and (16). General Manager, Helicopter Division and others were present on the occasion. S Anbuvelan Takes Over as CEO of HAL’s Helicopter Complex Bengaluru, October 1, 2020: Mr S Anbuvelan has taken over as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HAL’s Helicopter Complex here today. Prior to this, he was heading the Helicopter Division as Executive Director.“My focus will be to ensure quality products & services and timely delivery from Helicopter Complex”, said Mr Anbuvelan after taking the charge. Mr Anbuvelan did his graduation in mechanical engineering from Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and holds a Post Graduate Degree of M Tech in Aircraft Production Engineering from IIT Madras. He also holds Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from XIME, Bengaluru. He joined HAL as a management trainee (technical) in 1986 and has experience of 34 years in various key positions. Some of the highlights of his career so far include productionising ALH’s integrated transmission assembly, ramping up production of ALH gear boxes, reduction of snags during equipping of ALH, training & development of employees, quality improvements in ROH of Cheetah & Chetak helicopters at Barrackpore, streamlining of ALH production and implementation of latest technologies in the field of manufacturing & assembly of helicopter products.

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Sea Hawk 70B for Indian Navy Indian Navy, after operating Hawker’s SEAHAWK fighters, until the mid-80s, is on the verge of seeing the nomenclature reincarnate in a helicopter avatar, with the MoD short-listing Sikorsky built multi-mission helicopter SEAHAWK S 70B. Short listing would now enable the commencement of a series of meetings at South Block , wherein all the issues regarding pricing, technical specification, aircrew / maintainers training, delivery schedules, testing and acceptance, offsets, weapon package/flight-clearance, onboard suites, etc will be negotiated and finalized to meet the ‘wish list’ formulated by the Navy. Sikorsky was successful in getting short listed as result of the corruption scandal that came to light in Feb 2012 culminating in the cancellation of the VVIP CHOPPER AW 101…….the very firm’s UK subsidiary had supplied (with option for another eight numbers) to replace its ageing Agusta Westland SEAKING helicopters in 1983. SEAKING helicopters . For nearly three decades the SEAKINGS have been the workhorse , serving as the anti- The US firm Sikorsky was founded by Mr. Igor ship missile platform for launching British SEA EAGLE Sikorsky, who migrated from Russia and is popularly missiles and, anti-submarine platform for dropping Italian revered in aerospace world as the ‘father of helicopter’. smart torpedoes and the vintage Mk 11 Depth charges ,after During the Cold War era, when the US authorities were localising the enemy submarines using sonobouys/dunking contemplating stealth features in combat aircraft like B- sonar. As and when the SEAHAWKs are inducted, they 2,B-1B and later F-112A , Sikorsky came up with the design will provide state-of-art upgradation to operational of a stealthy helicopter RAH 66 COMANCHE, in association capabilities , apart from raising the bar to meet the new with Boeing . This program was later scrapped in 2004 after threats that have evolved at sea. Details of the weapons incurring expenditure of US $ 7 billion. The fallout of the and other onboard supplementary equipment will be known Comanche design effort seems to have contributed towards only after the contract is finalized by the MoD. realization of BLACK HAWK ….a helicopter with decreased stealthy features . SEA HAWK is the Naval variant of In the current maritime situation, the SEAHAWK , apart BLACK HAWK with enhanced engine power and higher from its anti-ship/anti-submarine/EW/ESM role, can be ceiling height. The US Coast Guard operates Jay Hawk equipped to take on various tasks eg. deploying specialized (MH-60T), while the USAF operates Pave Hawk (HH-60G). sonobouys ,which when dropped at sea will transmit ( The Chinese Navy has procured 70C for its Air force and, information for onboard equipment to process data like 70C (M) for its Navy equipped with an under nose radar electric fields, magnetic anamolies, bioluminescence and dunking sonar.) Photograph of the crashed helicopter (submarine presence) as well as measuring environmental tail boom at Abbottabad appears to be part of the parameters like water temperature vs depth, air temp, COMANCHE design. barometric pressure and wave height . Processing of this voluminous data enables programming of smart mines in Sea hawk is powered by twin 1700 shaft HP 7700-GE- our inventory and helps mine countermeasures, with 401C turboshaft engines and operates at a max gross weight hovering helo remotely controlling submerged vehicles (via of 23000 lbs and max ceiling height of 20000ft. It cruises at cable) for detection, localization and neutralization of anti- 150 knots with max speed of 180 knots and has four hours access (enemy) sea mines, thereby enabling friendly ships endurance, which can be increased to 5 hrs plus when fitted to maneuver in littoral waters. In addition, missions like with external drop tanks. It incorporates automatic blade monitoring mercantile shipping/fishing vessels movement fold and tail pylon folding capabilities for shipborne outside EEZ, assistance to off-shore platforms (when compatibility. The helicopter will introduce our pilots to required) ,anti-smuggling (drugs & weapons), anti-piracy the ‘glass cockpit ‘technology, where information on ops, disaster response at sea , MEDEVAC, VERTREP, search airspeed, attitude , altitude, heading, engine performance and rescue, combat support and fleet logistics operations. etc will be presented on a video display in lieu of analogue gauges. In the USN, the SEAHAWK carries either one Policy planners seem to be, now, aware that advancing Penguin anti-ship missile or AGM 114 HELLFIRE system and sustaining naval helicopter missions at sea with an with FLIR and autonomous Laser designator to target small affordable budget is a significant part of national security/ surface ships. Its survivability package includes chaff ,flare defence. The Navy on its part has to strictly ensure and active decoy dispensers, IR jammers, threat warning operating the assets within the maker’s recommended receivers . Infra-red signature is minimized by using IR profile ,while continuously assessing the strength of the suppression system exhaust baffling (HIRSS). It is designed helicopter’s mission effectiveness over its projected life to be a multi-mission platform …… when fitted with suitable span . Multi-mission helicopter like SEA HAWK is built to onboard equipment is capable of meeting all the emerging assume various roles when properly equipped . As the tasks threats at sea. at sea increase , the number of platforms will have to increase, in order to fulfill the mission statement of the Indian Navy may initially receive 16 SEAHAWKS Navy.

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Italian Air Force Enhances Emergency Response and Homeland Security Capabilities with the First HH-139B Helicopter Leonardo has announced today the recent delivery of the first HH-139B twin engine helicopter to the Italian Air Force, a customised variant of the bestselling AW139 platform, from its facility based in Vergiate. The aircraft is the first of 17 HH-139Bs and deliveries are expected to be completed by 2021, in order to further strengthen the multirole capabilities of the Italian Air Force as an essential enabler to support emergency response and security requirements across the nation. The helicopter will be operated by the Italian Air Force’s 15th Wing which is in charge for search and rescue (SAR) duties and supports the national community in case of disaster relief operations. ensured by distributing the helicopters in several bases. Each aircraft can be quickly reconfigured from SAR to The HH-139Bs will perform a range of missions MEDEVAC or fire-fighting. The growth of the Italian Air including SAR, fire-fighting, Slow Mover Intercept, and Force’s HH-139 fleet also benefits from unique logistical, join an existing fleet of 13 multirole HH-139As and four VH- operational and technical, certification and training 139As, the latter are used for Government transport commonalities and synergies across the growing AW139 missions. Compared to the HH-139A, the 7-tonne HH-139B fleets of Government and public service operators in Italy. variant features, among others, new electro-optics, new This reinforces the possibility to perform effective and safe radar, a new rescue hoist and a mission console in the cabin. joint operations with other users of this modern type and Core avionics will feature Phase 8 software release allowing represents a quantum leap in homeland security, disaster even more advanced and safer all-weather navigation and relief capability and overall through-life-cycle cost/ mission capabilities. effectiveness for the future. During the Covid-19 pandemic, In order to ensure the greatest level of responsiveness AW139s have been extensively used in Italy to deliver and effectiveness, an extended coverage area will be unique biocontainment installation transport services in its class. Leonardo: U.S. Department of Defense Exercises Options for 36 TH-73A Helicopters Rome 13 November 2020 19:08.Leonardo welcomes the announcement made by the U.S. Department of Defense to award AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp. a 171 million USD modification to the previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for the US Navy’s Advanced Helicopter Training System. This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of an additional 36 TH-73A aircraft, with work expected to be completed in December 2022 in Philadelphia, PA. In January 2020 Leonardo, through AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp., was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract valued at 176 million USD for the production and delivery of 32 TH-73A helicopters, initial spares, support and dedicated equipment, and 73A will be used to train the next generation of student specific pilot and maintenance training services. The TH- aviators from the US Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

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Leonardo Demonstrates Helicopter-UAV Teaming in The UK with Its AW159 Wildcat A UK first for seamless integration of a UAV into a helicopter’s mission system – allowing a helicopter crew to control a UAV from the cockpit as if it was one of the aircraft’s on-board sensors Teaming a helicopter with a UAV can significantly increase the situational awareness of the helicopter crew, while the seamless integration minimises additional workload This demonstration, run with the support of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) on behalf of the British Army, confirms Leonardo’s leading role in developing, integrating, and providing cutting-edge solutions for manned, remotely-piloted and autonomous/semi-autonomous missions, in addition to the AW159 Wildcat’s growing potential as a force multiplier in modern battlespace Teaming of manned aircraft with unmanned air systems scenarios (Manned Unmanned Teaming MUMT) enhances air On 17th September, Leonardo successfully support capability in both the Land and Maritime demonstrated unique integrated capabilities between a environments. It also enables extended and complex manned aircraft and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This operations to be conducted with a mix of platforms and took place in the UK during Manned-Unmanned Teaming systems. (MUMT) trials between a Leonardo AW159 Wildcat The demonstration was part of the British Army’s helicopter and a semi-autonomous UAV from Callen-Lenz MUMT themed Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE) 19, Associates. and was planned and executed by Dstl and took place on In this instance, MUMT is when a helicopter crew Salisbury Plain in September. controls a UAV from the helicopter like it was an onboard These trials build on simulation based development sensor being controlled from the cockpit. By integrating conducted under the Dstl funded AMS DE-RISC control of the UAV into the Wildcat Mission System, programme. This successful demonstration is now expected Leonardo was able to minimise the pilots’ workload allowing to inform the MUMT capability roadmap for both the UK them to focus more on the mission whilst simultaneously MoD and Leonardo. controlling the UAV - this is the first time such an integrated capability has been demonstrated in the UK on a military Maj Benjamin Thomas, Military Adviser Platform aircraft. A ‘Gateway Processor’ supplied by Callen-Lenz Systems Division at Dstl, commented: “The development Associates was used to interface with its semi-autonomous of the Wildcat integrated MUMT solution has been U AV. impressive, culminating in the successful demonstration of the capability on AWE 19 in a series of representative The Leonardo solution allows the Wildcat crew to military vignettes. MUMT has undoubtedly the potential control both the flight path and payload of the UAV (a to be a game-changing capability for aviation operating in capability known as Level of Interoperability (LOI) 4) using the Land environment, increasing both situational an efficient and effective task based Human Machine awareness and survivability.” Interface (HMI), rather than the more operator intensive approaches employed on other systems. The continued development and integration of cutting- edge solutions across all domains of remotely-piloted and Combining the strengths of manned and unmanned autonomous/semi-autonomous systems and technologies, platforms, MUMT has the potential to play a transformative including MUM-T, is a key element of Leonardo’s role by increasing the situational awareness, tempo, lethality, BeTomorrow2030 Strategic Plan. survivability and combat mass of aviation forces, significantly reducing crew workload allowing pilots to focus on the mission at hand.

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Ukrainian Enterprises put the Lives of American and Afghan Soldiers at Risk Russian Helicopters Holding Company considers it necessary to warn that Ukrainian aircraft repair enterprises are carrying out illegitimate overhaul of Mi- 17V-5 Helicopters and thereby endangers the lives of the American and Afghan soldiers that are operating these Helicopters. According to the received information about the arrival of two Mi-17V-5 Helicopters of the Afghan Air Force at the Ukrainian aircraft repair enterprises «Motor Sich» (Zaporozhye) and «Aviakon» (Konotop) for performing illegitimate overhaul, Russian Helicopters Holding Company disclaims all responsibility for further safe operation of mentioned Helicopters and has every reason to deny services related to maintenance of these Helicopters. The overhaul of these Helicopters will be carried out at the enterprises that have not mastered the overhaul of this National helicopter center Mil&Kamov) and the type of Helicopter in the prescribed manner, as no actualized Manufacturer («Kazan Helicopters» JSC) of this type of repair and design documentation for the Mi-17V-5 military Helicopters. Russian Helicopters Holding Company will transport helicopter, spare parts or repair group sets were notify all interested Russian and foreign organizations and delivered to these aircraft repair companies. This overhaul authorities about the inclusion of Ukrainian companies in must be considered as illegitimate since it will be performed the list of aircraft repair enterprises carrying out illegal without the participation and control of the Developer (The overhaul of Russian-made Helicopters. Russian Helicopters delivers first Ansat to a client in Europe The Russian Helicopters holding company (part of Rostec State Corporation) has delivered a first Ansat helicopter to a client in Europe. The operator of the rotorcraft, which is equipped for medical operations, is the Ministry of Interior of the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). This is the first of three helicopters under the delivery contrac.Ansat for Republika Srpska comes with a medical module equipped with a stretcher and a medical shelf. The helicopter cabin has place for transporting one patient and two chairs for accompanying doctors. Equipment configuration includes a system for artificial lung ventilation, tele-ECG allowing to monitor cardiac activity in real time, and various other equipment for the evacuation of patients of varying severity. The delivery set includes five seats, which can be installed instead of the medical module and carry 7 passengers in the helicopter cabin. The helicopter and reliability. Two more Ansats will be handed over to the also comes with active vibration control system. law enforcement agencies of Republika Srpska in 2021 and 2022. They will be additionally equipped with searchlights, "This delivery testifies that Ansat is competitive on fast-rope deployment system, a winch and an external the European market, and we see potential for new orders. sling", said the Director General of Russian Helicopters I am confident that European operators will appreciate the holding company Andrey Boginsky. favorable cost of operating the helicopter, its versatility

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Safran Signs by-the-hour support contract with State Grid General Aviation Company

15 December 2020, Beijing. Safran Helicopter Engines has signed a Support-By-Hour (SBH®) contract with State Grid General Aviation Company (SGGAC), covering their H215 and H225 fleets. This contract formalizes a longterm MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) and service agreement supporting a total of 4 Makila engines. This contract also includes the renewal of SBH® support for 14 Arriel 2D engines powering the operator’s fleet of 13 H125 helicopters. Based in China, SGGAC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the world's largest utility company State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), is mainly responsible for the air construction and maintenance of extrahigh-voltage and ultra-high-voltage power networks. SGGAC is one of Safran Helicopter Engines’ important customers in China, it contract, and we look forward to delivering them world- currently operates a fleet of 33 helicopters in total, and is class services and supporting them in their most demanding the largest H125 and its engine Arriel 2D operator in , missions”. SBH® is Safran Helicopter Engines’ support- as well as the launch customer of the H215 in China. by-the-hour program. It makes engine operating costs Bernard Plaza, Safran Helicopter Engines China CEO, predictable, eliminates cash peaks, allows flexibility for said: “We are proud that SGGAC has renewed its confidence scheduled and unscheduled MRO coverage. It now covers in Safran Helicopter Engines and its SBH® support 50% of Safran Helicopter Engines’ customer turbines’ flying hours. SBH® and Health Moni International Partnership

Safran is also involved in several international partnerships to make the following engines: MTR390, with Rolls-Royce, MTU and ITP (powering the Airbus Helicopters Tiger); Shakti, with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.) for the Dhruv; WZ16, with AVIC of China (for the Avicopter AC352); Ariel 2L2, with Hanwha Techwin (for the Korea Aerospace Industries LCH and LAH). Technological innovation at Safran is anchored in a complete understanding of customers' needs, while also meeting imperatives for reliability and operational cost-effectiveness. It also includes Safran's commitment to sustainable development. These new-generation engines feature reduced operating costs and unrivaled performance, including: 15% lower fuel consumption, reduced environmental footprint, greater payload capacity.

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Selfless Serice of Life Members Helps RWSI to be an Enviable Institution Happiness comes to us in different forms like love, respect, service, success, wealth, power or fame. Happiness is thus a result of the outcome of our actions. All human beings aspire for happiness, though the means and goals of happiness may be different for each person. There are many people who wish to become a politician and gain power so that they can transform the world and become famous. However, for some people, service to the society may be a source of happiness. For some, working selflessly in meeting the interest of rotary wing aviation community in India through RWSI is their happiness. If RWSI has maintained its enviable stature has been because of the selfless voluntary service, it has been receiving from some of its life members since its inception. I am eternally grateful to them for the support. Like in the past 22 years, during the year 2020, a number hard-core professionals have worked selflessly in promoting the objects of RWSI. The primary areas in which their support came was in handling Ground Training for licensed pilots on Aeronautical Subjects thereby enhancing their professional knowledge and in handling third party safety audits for operator which helped them in better compliance to safety norms.The following Life Members deserve to be applauded for their significant contribution to RWSI in Safety Education / Third Party Safety Audit/Consutancy Servises:-

Wg Cdr B S Singh Deo VM Vice Capt Uday Gelli has been the President RWSI is a Founding Member President of RWSI ( Western Region) of RWSI. He was a Production Test Pilot since 1999.& Sr Aviation Advisor to and Qualified Flying Instructor- Category Heligo Charters Pvt Ltd. As a Helicopter A1, he has flown over 8,000 hours in pilot. He has over 5500 hours of accident Onshore and Offshore in 14 types of free flying. He has been awarded for his Helicopters and 5 types of aeroplanes. outstanding contribution to the Helicopter Industry by RWSI, for highest safety standards He is a Six-Sigma Green Belt. He was MD of Bell in operations by Bell Textron of USA and with Igor Helicopter for India and South Asia for 21 years and Sikorsky award in recognition of his contribution to the retired in May 2018. propagation of safety in the Helicopter Industry. Wg Cdr VP Mathur, was Gp Capt MK Labroo, an Aeronautical commissioned in the I A F in 1968. He is a Engineer, Fellow of Institute of Engineers Q F I with 41yrs of teaching experience. and a Chartered Engr (Aero Space). He is also a TEST PILOT with testing Former Air Force Chief Engr is an Avn Experience both on Fixed Wing and Rotary Management & Q.A specialist and Wing Aircraft. He has an A T P L {H} functioned as CEO, GM (Engineering), from FAA Washington DC. He has 14000 Accountable Manager, COFS and Head hours of flying experience spread over three continents. of Engg respectively, of various Civil Helicopter Operating He has served the DGCA as a Chief Flight Operations Companies. An active Engg Expert Member of AAIB has Inspector {H}. Over the last Eight years he has been also been a Safety Audit Member of DGCA& RWSI.Lead serving the RWSI as the Head of Training Faculty. Trainer of SMS, SEP, DGR, AAI, AAP, HF Courses, CAR- Gp Capt Raghvinder Nath Joshi M, CAR145 and Quality Audit Training in RWSI VM, is an experienced helicopter pilot Capt Sanjay Mittal, is an experienced and was an A2 QFI, Air Force Examiner ex IAF helicopter pilot and an A2 QFI with and served in the VIP Squadron of IAF. vast instructional and operational He commanded a helicopter unit and was experience on both rotary and fixed wing the Chief Flying Instructor in Helicopter aircraft. Employed as Chief Pilot of a Training School before retiring from the helicopter Company, he has over 12,000hrs IAF. He flew MI-8s and Chetak helicopters in the IAF of accident and incident free flying on and flew Bell 412, MD 902 and MD 520 Helicopters in the helicopters and fixed wing. Capt Mittal is a DGCA corporate sector. He is passionate about safety in approved TRE on AW 139 and Bell 412 helicopters.DGCA helicopter operations and is RWSI trainer of safety related has also cleared him as facilitator for CRM classes subjects. conducted by Rotary Wing Society of India.

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Ground Training Efforts by RWSI during the Quarter Ending 31 Dec 2020 RWSI steps up its Ground Training Efforts during the quarter ending 31 Dec 2020. A total of 121 candidates b) SGT - 1 Pilot at Bangalore by Air Cmde MM Ali went through safety related Training Courses at RWSI c) SMS (1Day) Training - 1 candidate at Noida by during the period. The details of training carried out by Wg Cdr VP Mathur RWSI are outlined below :- d) CAR-M Training - 3 candidates at Noida by Gp 01-31 Oct 20 - Total of 42 candidates Capt MK Labroo RWSI steps up its Ground Training Efforts in October e) CAR-145 Training - 2 candidates at Noida by Gp 2020. A total of 42 candidates went through Safety related Capt MK Labroo Training Courses at RWSI in October 2020. f) Human Factor Training - 1 candidate at Noida by a) CRM Training - 4 Pilots at Noida by Wg Cdr VP Gp Capt MK Labroo Mathur g) SMS (2 Days) Training - 2 candidates at Noida by b) SGT - 6 Pilots at Noida by Wg Cdr VP Mathur and Wg Cdr VP Mathur and Capt Rajat Kaura 2 Pilots at Mumbai by Gp Capt RN Joshi 01-31 Dec 20 - Total of 54 candidates c) CAR-145 Training - 11 candidates at Noida by Gp RWSI steps up its Ground Training Efforts in Capt MK Labroo December 2020. A total of 54 candidates went through d) CAR-M Training - 9 candidates at Noida by Gp Safety related Training Courses at RWSI in December Capt MK Labroo 2020. e) SEP - 2 candidates at Noida by Gp Capt MK Labroo a) CRM Training - 5 Pilots at Noida by Wg Cdr VP f) Aviation Internal Quality Auditor Training - 5 Mathur, 4 Pilots at Mumbai by Gp Capt RN Joshi and 3 candidates at Noida by Gp Capt MK Labroo Pilots at Bangalore by Air Cmde MM Ali. g) SMS (5 Days) Training - 2 candidates by AVM K b) SGT - 4 Pilots at Noida by Wg Cdr VP Mathur and Sridharan, Gp Capt MK Labroo, Wg Cdr VP Mathur and 3 Pilots at Bangalore by Air Cmde MM Ali. Capt Rajat Kaura c) SMS (1Day) Training - 3 candidates at Noida by h) SMS (1 Day) - 1 candidate by Wg Cdr VP Mathur Wg Cdr VP Mathur and 11 candidates at Pune by Gp & Capt Rajat Kaura Capt RN Joshi. d) SMS (2 Days) Training - 1 candidate at Noida by 01-30 Nov 20 - Total of 47 candidates Wg Cdr VP Mathur and Capt Rajat Kaura. RWSI steps up its Ground Training Efforts in November 2020. A total of 47 candidates went through e) CAR-M Training - 11 candidates at Noida by Gp Safety related Training Courses at RWSI in November Capt MK Labroo 2020. f) CAR-145 Training - 5 candidates at Noida by Gp a) CRM Training - 8 Pilots at Noida by Wg Cdr VP Capt MK Labroo Mathur, 1 Pilot at Bangalore by Air Cmde MM Ali, 2 g) Aviation Internal Quality Auditor Training - 4 Pilots at Mumbai by Gp Capt RN Joshi and 26 Pilots at candidates at Noida by Gp Capt MK Labroo by Wg Cdr VP Mathur and Gp Capt RN Joshi.

Air Cmde M. M. Ali VM, is a Smt. Kalpana Dhar, is a post graduate helicopter pilot and A2 QFI. He has over in Economics and has 40 years of 8000 accident free hrs both on fixed and experience in banking industry. She has rotary wing. He was an Air Force Examiner retired from Canara Bank as Senior on helicopters. While on HATSOFF Manager and is now supporting RWSI employment the Air Officer was cleared since September 2018 and is handling by DGCA to conduct CRM classes which finance and accounts. he continues to do now with RWSI

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Election of RWSI Governing Council

The Elections for the Governing Council of the RWSI is proposed being held as per the following schedule approved by the 10th AGM of RWSI on 19 March 2012 at AF Auditorium Subroto Park, New Delhi, decided to hold the Elections for the Governing Council of the RWSI is to be conducted every three years. As the tenure of the present Governing Council of the RWSI is scheduled to be completed on 17 June 2021,the following Election scheduled has been planned :- (a) Notification of GC Election - 18 December 2020 (b) Last date for the Receipt of completed Nomination Papers from the Life Members - 18 February 2021 (c) Completion date for Scrutiny of nominations recd –28 February 2021 (d) Last date for Dispatch of the Ballot papers to members at their last recorded address - 18 Mar 2021 (e) Submission of ballot papers by the Life Members to RWSI HQ Noida by 18 May 2021 (f) Opening of Ballot papers, compilation of result - 19 May 2021 (g) Declaration of result of NEW Governing Council - 20 May 2021 (h) Formation of New GC on 18 June 2021 The election notice is being issued on 31 Dec 20 as per the RWSI Rules and intimated through email along with nomination form to members. The intimation of the election will also be published in our magazine - Rotor India Quarter Ending of 31 Dec 20 . The ballot paper will be sent to registered address of Life Members available as per our record held through courier or post. RWSI will not be responsible for non receipt of the completed nomination from the member due to postal delays or otherwise. Life Members will elect 10 members from the existing Governing Council members and five members from the list of new nominations in accordance of including any of the existing GC Members. The 15 elected Governing Council members will then choose the office bearers including President, Vice President, Secy Gen, Secy Admin & Treasurer, President and Secretaries of Northern, Western and Southern Chapters. Life Members who are desirous of serving in Governing Council of RWSI through elections may forward their nomination papers duly proposed by 10 Life Members to RWSI in the prescribed form available in RWSI website: rwsi.com.in or sent through email by 18th February 2021. Members may contact Sr. Admin Officer, RWSI (Tele. 0120 4252346) for nomination form or any clarification.

62 ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 DECEMBER - 2020 AVIATION PROFESSIONALS RWSI

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