12th anniversary of Pawan Hans crash today
SHILLONG: The pilot of the ill-fated Pawan Hans helicopter had taken a delayed decision to return to Guwahati and encountered bad weather, resulting in the chopper crash of September 22, 2004, at a hillock at Nongkhla near Kyrdemkulai in Ri Bhoi district, which claimed the lives of all 10 persons on board.
Thursday marks the 12th anniversary of the tragic incident.
Those who were killed in the crash were the then Community and Rural Development Minister Cyprian Sangma, legislators Ardhendu Chaudhuri and Heltone Marak, GHADC Chairman Rikseng Sangma, Shillong-based businessman Shrolenson Marbaniang, Joint Director of Printing Novelson Sangma, former Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly Ira Marak, retired Joint Director of Labour Sudhir D Shira, Pawan Hans pilot Captain P. Jain and co-pilot Captain R. Anand.
As per the final report available with The Shillong Times on the crach of the Dauphin Helicopter VT EKZ operated by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd., at Nongkhla, the delayed decision by the pilot to return to Guwahati after having encountered adverse weather was the contributory factor in the accident that occurred around 1:20 pm of September 22, 2004.
The report on the chopper crash from Deputy Director, Air Safety, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), was made available to the State Transport Department at the end of last year though the final report was ready with DGCA on September 15, 2005.
The report said the pilot had continued the flight to Shillong under deteriorating weather conditions and while approaching Shillong, he was unable to locate the helipad and then he decided to return to Guwahati. “The pilot took delayed decision of returning to Guwahati after having encountered adverse weather, which was a factor to the accident,” the report said.
According to the report, while returning in severe weather conditions of rain and thunderstorm, the helicopter impacted the slope of the muddy hill top. The wreckage was found in the Kydremkulai hilly area.
The helicopter was destroyed due to the impact coupled with post impact fire, the report said.
The examination of the wreckage revealed that both the engines were showing evidences of power delivery at the time of impact. The helicopter was serviceable at the time of take-off and its serviceability is not a factor in the accident, said the report.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder unit installed in the helicopter had suffered severe damage and no data could be recovered from it. Moreover, the helicopter had valid certificate of airworthiness and the pilots had valid licenses.
As per the sequence narrated in the report, on September 22, 2004, the helicopter was scheduled to fly for the sectors Guwahati-Shillong-Guwahati-Tura-Guwahati-Shillong-Guwahati.
The co-pilot had taken the Met briefing for the first flight in the morning from Guwahati to Shillong at 8 am. Thereafter no Met briefing was taken in Guwahati by any of the flight crew for any of the sectors operated by them on the day. Moreover, no load and trim sheet (weight and balance) was prepared for the flights. One of the recommendations of the report was to ensure that the crew should obtain the latest weather briefing prior to operating flights.
The flights for the sectors Guwahati-Shillong-Guwahati-Tura-Guwahati were uneventful, said the report.
The helicopter was refuelled at 12 pm for flying the Guwahati-Shillong-Guwahati sector. The pilot had delayed the departure for Shillong reportedly due to bad weather in Shillong and also for carrying two more passengers, one arriving from Kolkata (Ardhendu Chaudhuri) and another arriving from Delhi (Shrolenson Marbaniang).
The helicopter finally took off from Guwahati for Shillong at 12:59 pm after a delay of about one hour. There was no improvement in the weather in Shillong from 12 pm to 1 pm, the report said, adding that the weather was fine in Guwahati at the time of take off.
The helicopter was in contact with Shillong Advance Landing Ground (ALG) and it passed the latest weather data to the pilot. At 1:10 pm, the pilot passed its Estimated Time of Arrival in Shillong as 1:17 pm.
The weather in Shillong had started deteriorating and aviation weather report was issued at 1:10 pm with visibility reducing to 2,500m and the weather changing from haze to raining. The same was passed on to the helicopter by the Shillong ALG.
At 1:15 pm, another weather report was issued by the Shillong ALG with visibility reducing to 1,000m and the weather changing from rain to thundershower.
As per tower observation, it was raining heavily over the ALG and the landmarks identified as MICRO and Peak were not visible from the ALG.
ALG informed the same to the helicopter. The helicopter acknowledged the weather transmission and informed ALG at 1:15 pm that they were returning to Guwahati via Dispur.
At 1:17pm, ALG asked the helicopter to confirm contact established with Guwahati to which the helicopter replied in the affirmative.
“There was no contact with the helicopter regarding its return to Guwahati. The helicopter was neither in contact with Guwahati Air Traffic Control nor with the Shillong ALG thereafter,” the report said.
The chopper crashed around 1:20 pm. “The helicopter wreckage was found at Kyrdemkulai area and all persons on board were dead. There was no in-flight fire and the helicopter was destroyed due to impact with ground and post impact fire,” the report added.
The report, however, ruled out sabotage by any bomb explosion.