Govt appoints flight inspectors for choppers
BYAS ANAND
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2003 07:39:31 PM ]
NEW DELHI: Two days after the Mesco chopper crash that killed 27 people and a year after the demise of then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi in a similar accident, the civil aviation ministry on Thursday decided to appoint a special flight inspector for helicopters.
Besides, a separate cell is also being created under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to monitor and formulate norms exclusively for chopper operations in India.
“We had been examining this area since Balayogi's demise in a chopper crash and have today appointed a flight inspector for all choppers in the country. The special cell will also monitor the safety standards of all non-scheduled aircraft and chopper operators in the country,” civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
The DGCA and this special wing will now conduct the enquiry into Monday's chopper crash. Though DGCA officials said the operator -- Mesco -- possessed a valid non-scheduled operator license, the enquiry would be to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.
The MI-172 chopper owned by Mesco was ferrying 25 ONGC staff members from drilling rig Sagar Kiran, about 35km from the Mumbai coast, when it crashed. The chopper plunged into the sea less than 500 metres after it had taken off.
"The chopper had taken off from the Juhu helibase this morning for Sagar Kiran and no technical snag was reported. We will try to ascertain the cause of the accident," DGCA officials said.
The chopper, the official said, is 7-8 years old and has been undergoing the necessary periodical checks. "Even the non-scheduled operator license was being renewed every year."
The DGCA had, over two years back, proposed to introduce a legislation banning use of all single-engined helicopters for use in India, particularly by politicians. The reason: With a twin-engined chopper, failure of one engine still guarantees that it can still be made to land safely.
However, strong lobbying by the two dozen-odd charter operators kept DGCA from putting its thoughts into action.
"While DGCA keeps a detailed history of each helicopters from the time of import, the day-to-day maintenance leaves a lot of scope for improvement. Besides, there is no prescribed minimum age for a helicopter that is being imported or leased. So, if you have some amount of political push-and-pull, you can easily get an old choppers cleared for use," said an industry insider.