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2nd audit of helicopter operators ordered in Kedarnath
The regulator also mandated additional measures to be followed by all operators engaged in the Char Dham pilgrimage and the Amarnath Yatra.
A day after an official from the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development (UCAD) was killed by a helicopter’s tail rotor blade during take-off, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday ordered a second audit of operators before giving them the final go-ahead to conduct operations to and from the Kedarnath shrine.
The regulator also mandated additional measures to be followed by all operators engaged in the Char Dham pilgrimage and the Amarnath yatra.
“In the light of the incident, the operational preparedness is being audited by DGCA before giving the final go-ahead for operations,” a DGCA official told HT. “The regulator has also come up with an Operations Circular mandating additional safety measures to be followed by the operators,” he added.
The accident took place on Sunday afternoon when 35-year-old Amit Saini, a 2017 batch state finance service officer, was at Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) helipad. He was there for audit and inspection work and was returning to Dehradun.
The audit was being conducted as the Kedarnath yatra commences from Tuesday.
The aviation regulator has been conducting rigorous checks, as there were several red flags with the operators in last few years.
The DGCA, as a standard operating procedure, conducts a safety coordination meeting around 30 days before the helicopter flying operations begin for the yatra.
“This year the safety and coordination meeting with all stakeholders was held on March 27 for Amarnath Yatra and between April 20-23 for the Kedarnath yatra when the accident took place,” the DGCA official said.
This time, nine operators have been permitted to conduct operations during the Char Dham yatra.
DGCA said it has issued an operations circular listing additional measures for both the yatras.
“The aim is to introduce additional measures to curb the non-compliances that were noticed during the yatra operations in the previous year,” the official said.
The Amarnath Yatra is to commence from July 1 this year.
A DGCA inspection team visits all the helipads and the preparedness of all operators is inspected by the team before it grants approval for flying operations. In addition, spot checks are conducted on these operations by DGCA officials at regular intervals to ensure compliance of all safety directions.
In addition to these checks, operators have been asked to activate the Airborne Image Recording System (AIRS).
“The mandate is for all those helicopters that are presently fitted with this system and are planned to be used in the yatra operations. This is also to ensure deterrence for any non-compliances to the provisions of the circular and the footage as evidence can be accessed during spot checks to fix accountability,” another DGCA official said.
“Installing AIRS and weather cameras is a positive step provided the operators monitor it regularly,” Capt Uday Gelli, president (western region), Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI), a not-for-profit organisation that works for the civilian helicopter industry, said.
All the shrine and operators’ helipads have also been asked to install surveillance cameras with a minimum data storage capacity of 14 days.
Installing weather cameras with live feed has been mandated at vantage points along the flight path and also at major valley junctions, with an aim to provide accurate and current weather information for use by all stakeholders, especially pilots.
“We have also mandated an additional hill check for operations above 10,000ft for all pilots operating to/from helipads situated at/above 10,000ft to ensure that the proficiency of the pilots is checked for such operations in a realistic scenario and in the same conditions that they are likely to face during operations,” the official said.
“However, the main point is crowd control. There should be a trained helipad landing officer at all landing pads to ensure passenger boarding and deboarding in an orderly fashion,” Gelli said.
