Chopper pilot Captain Andrew Manchanda from Mumbai saved about 500 lives in Uttarkhand in less than a week till rough weather on June 28 forced him into a hard landing in Harsil valley. Though no one was injured, the French-made Pawan Hans Dauphin N3 cracked at its rear following a 20-feet free fall and its rotor tail section had to be chopped off. According to the protocol, Captain Manchanda was grounded pending a probe, but the investigation has not yet started even though three months have already passed.
Even the damaged helicopter has been brought back to its Juhu aerodrome hangar. The chopper, all two tonnes of it, was itself air-lifted in a first-of-its-kind delicate "under-slung" operation by an Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force. It came back on a trailer from Dehradhun last Thursday and engineers are now all set to repair it.
Captain Manchanda (47), a pilot with 23 years of passionate flying behind him, said the very day following the hard landing, he gave his statement to ministry officials in Delhi. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the data flight recorder, two crucial instruments, were removed by the authorities almost immediately. He is, however, yet to hear from the officials, even about the commencement of the probe.
Read News In Full 23/09/13 Swati Deshpande/Times of India
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