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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, AUG 20: Chief of Air Staff Anil Yashwant Tipnis on Thursday asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to employ pilots and engineers who retire young and “contribute towards rehabilitation of ex-servicemen in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict”.
He also suggested formulation of a National Aeronautics Policy and creation of a Helicopter Advisory Board under the Ministry to amend the existing aviation policy to suit specific needs of civilian and military chopper operations.
Tipnis said helipads were built for visits of VIPs at considerable cost in various parliamentary constituencies. These helipad locations were changed during every election, necessitating additional costs for building of new helipads and trial landings. If permanent locations were selected for helipads in each district locality, a permanent and standard facility could come up, he said. It was sad to note that, even after 40 years of helicopter operation in the country, “we do not have a single heliport for public use,” hesaid.
Describing the absence of heliports as a “sad state of affairs,” Tipnis also suggested setting up of a Heliport Development Wing within the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to plan and construct heliports.
He also touched upon the major role played by helicopters in the Kargil operations and said choppers were used as a force multiplier in every conceivable manner – from combat and para dropping to reconnaissance, transportation, logistic and maintenance support.
The use of helicopters traces back to the Korean war and in Vietnam where they were flown for multi-purpose operations.
He said that there were only 106 choppers for civilian use in the country with a population of about one billion when there were several areas like emergency medical services, police operations, maintenance of power lines and even live news coverage where helicopters could be used.
