Pawan Hans ops suspended in N-E
The DGCA on Sunday ordered the suspension of Pawan Hans helicopter operations in the Northeast as a precautionary measure in view of the incident in which a Pawan Hans copter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu went missing on Saturday. Till Sunday evening, the copter was yet to be located. “As a precautionary measure, the operation of Pawan Hans copters in the Northeast has been stopped for the time-being,” top DGCA sources said.
In a statement released on Sunday evening, the state-run Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd too said it had “put on hold its commercial operations in the Northeast area for the time being so that these helicopters are available for search and rescue and the DGCA reviews the current situation”.
Even though Pawan Hans on Sunday said the copter carrying the Arunachal chief minister was a “brand new copter (that) was acquired in 2010”, a controversy has also arisen about whether this single-engine copter should have been utilised to fly the chief minister. DGCA sources confirmed to this newspaper that single-engine copters should not be used to ferry VIPs. This could be construed to mean that Pawan Hans may be guilty of violation of rules.
But Pawan Hans sources told this newspaper that as per the arrangement worked out earlier with the Arunachal government, it was the state government that chose the single-engine copter to fly the chief minister. “In fact, Mr Khandu was extremely fond of this copter and had flown in it several times,” claimed a Pawan Hans official. Although Pawan Hans said there was “necessary mission equipment” on board this copter, it is unclear whether the crucial ground-proximity warning system was installed on it.
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