Press Information Bureau English Releases
The Government has appointed a Committee of Inquiry headed by Air Marshal (Retd.) P.P. Rajkumar to Inquire into the circumstances of accident of Pawan Hans helicopter at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, 2011. The Committee comprises following members:
(i) Air Commodore (Retd.) Rai Krishan – Member
(ii) Wing Commander (Retd.) Rabinder Singh - Member
Shri M.J. Singh, Deputy Director of Air Safety has also been appointed as Secretary to the Committee. The Committee will also take assistance of other experts/ agencies whenever required. The Headquarter of the Committee will be at New Delhi. The Committee will complete its inquiry and submit its report to the Central Government within three months.
Meanwhile, Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited has announced an interim compensation of Rs.1 lakh for the deceased and Rs.50, 000 for the injured. Final compensation shall however, be determined as per law.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has also advised DGCA to immediately take following actions with a view to ensure safety of helicopter operations in the country:-
(i) To launch a reassurance drive in order to ensure that all helicopters are being operated and maintained in accordance with the approved procedures and with safety aspect in place.
(ii) DGCA shall ensure that examiners of Helicopters will conduct special checks of the line pilots under overall supervision of DGCA in a time bound manner.
(iii) To undertake immediate assessment of helipads particularly in critical areas where helicopter operations are undertaken in a drive mode.
(iv) DGCA to ensure implementation of monitoring/ review of safety regulations to be implemented by State Governments.
(v) To make an external assessment of overall safety standards of helicopter operations in respect of operators involved in operation in critical areas.
Accordingly DGCA has initiated actions on the above mentioned aspects.
It may be noted that a Pawan Hans helicopter, MI-172 VT-PHF, on a flight from Guwahati in Assam to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh met with an accident while landing at Tawang. The helicopter was under the Command of Capt Varun Gupta and the crew members included Capt. A.K. Tiwari, Co – Pilot, Shri P.K. Chaturvedi, Flight Engineer, Shri S. V. Kulkarani, AME and Shri A. Dixit, Flight Attendant. There were 18 passengers on board. The number of fatalities is 17 including, three crew–members and injuries to six other persons including two crew members.
Ministry of Civil Aviation directed DGCA and CMD, Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited to rush to the accident site along with their team to supervise rescue and relief operations. The team has undertaken a visit of the accident site. DGCA was advised to appoint an Inspector of Accident immediately. Accordingly, Shri Sanit Kumar, RCAS, Kolkata was appointed as Inspector of Accident.
Subsequently, keeping in view the circumstances of the sad and tragic accident and fatalities involved, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has found it expedient to institute a Committee of Inquiry under Rule 74 of Aircraft Rules, 1937 to investigate and determine the cause and contributory factors leading to the accident and make recommendations to avoid recurrence of such accidents in future.
