The Hindu : Safety norms for VVIP travel flouted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 05, 2002

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Safety norms for VVIP travel flouted
By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4. Safety norms for VVIP travel were flouted in the Deccan Aviation helicopter that crash-landed in a village in Andhra Pradesh killing the Lok Sabha Speaker, G.M.C. Balayogi, his additional private secretary, K.S. Raju, and the pilot, G.V. Menon.

The mandatory ground rule for VVIP air travel is that the aircraft or the helicopter should have twin engines and two pilots. Both these rules were flouted in the Deccan Aviation Bell 206 helicopter VT-DAP which was a single engine chopper being flown by a single pilot. With two engines the pilot can switch over from one to the other in case of a snag. This crash, involving a civilian helicopter, is the sixth in a series in the last one year.

The crash raises questions about the safety norms of choppers. At times, VVIPs hopping from one destination to another nearby disregard norms and authorities or private air operators yield under political pressure. Experts say the safety norms that are in place are adequate but their implementation should be stringent.

This year, there have been three crashes involving choppers. One was the Himalayan helicopter accident in Manali in February. Then singer Anuradha Paudwal and others had a miraculous escape in a Madhya Pradesh Government helicopter last month.

Last year in January a Span Air chopper crashed in Mussourie involving the DLF owner, K.P. Singh's family. In May, 2001, a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in the north-east killing all on board, including Nandita Judge, and in July, 2001, a Jammu and Kashmir Government chopper was involved in an accident in Amarnath.

A high-level inquiry has been ordered by the Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain, into the Bhimavaram tragedy. However, experts say from preliminary inquiry that the chopper was flying too low when it got caught in the trees. Speculation is that the pilot tried to land in the fish pond. It was not the kind of chopper that could land on water. A proper landing would require hard, even ground where there are no trees or wires.

Normally, there are no black boxes in a helicopter and the inquiry is conducted on the basis of the wreckage. However, no probe into any of the six civilian helicopter crashes in the last one year has been made public so far.

Doubts over fitness

By Our Staff Reporter

ELURU, MARCH 4. It was yet to be ascertained whether pre-fly tests had been carried out to ensure the fitness of the helicopter the Lok Sabha Speaker, G.M.C. Balayogi, had boarded on Sunday, said H.S. Khola, Director-General, Civil Aviation.

The D-G, along with the Chairman of the Inquiry Commission, S. Natarajan, visited the crash site today. They were accompanied by A.P. Singh of the Ranchi-based Deccan Aviation, which had given a pair of helicopters on hire to a S.A. Paul, a Christian missionary, and the Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Balayogi had taken one of the helicopters at Mr. Paul's request.

The officials went to the crash site and inspected the wreckage. ``We are on the look-out for a `travelling copy' supposed to have been kept with the pilot to ascertain whether the copter had undergone any pre-fly test before its take-off in Bhimavaram,'' Mr. Khola told reporters. He said Deccan Aviation would be asked to place the log book before the investigating team to look into the fitness angle. Although pre-fly tests were mandatory for all the planes and copters, including those operated by private companies, a confirmation was needed, he said.

Mr. Khola said it was also yet to be established whether the pilot was in contact with the signals beamed by the Air Traffic Control offices in Rajahmundry, Hyderabad and Chennai at the time of the disaster. Asked whether any human error had led to the crash, he said: ``We only have had primary observation now. It's too early to arrive at a conclusion on the cause of mishap''.

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