VVIP mess for IAF

The third near miss involving an Indian Air Force IAF chopper from the Presidents entourage in the past 18 months has caused a lot of ripples at Air HQ. Nearly everyone,from the Rashtrapati Bhawan and Defence Ministry to security officials,is fuming at IAFs repeated carelessness. Barring the first incident,when a chopper carrying the Presidents aides had to make an emergency landing near Pahalgam,the other two incidents have had an element of bad judgment or error on the part of the pilots. While the government is set to get a new set of VVIP copters,with a deal involving Augusta Westland choppers in the final stages,the heat is increasing on the IAF to act against those in charge of the squadron.