Neelam Mathews
Oct 15, 2012
An Indian Navy Chetak helicopter crashed today at 10am while landing at Naval air station in Goa. The helio was in transit to make a rescheduling stop from Mumbai to Bangalore. All three onboard have died. Our condolences to their families.
Goa’s Dabolim airport has been closed, we hear.
While a Board of Inquiry to ascertain the
cause has been formed, isn’t it time to start looking at what is happening with those machines?
The Indian Navy has released an RFP for 56
Light Utility Helicopters. The bidders have been given a five-month time to
submit their bids. Why is the time period been extended? Shouldn’t this be a
priority? Or is it the time of the year once again to give HAL a chance to
offer a design, for which it will take another few years to implement? Are we
waiting for more disasters to happen?
Well, the writer has posed the questions; but the link to the crash is reactive! What if a new machine meets the same fate! ALHs have also crashed but then it should not lead to disbanding the production. The crux is to understand as why the crash happened? It needs to be established as what led to the crash? Whether it was human error or material failure or both? All know that flying is not forgiving; there are many midst us who have seen death from very close quarters because of our own follies; while it is more human to blame it on others or look for an alibi!
ReplyDeleteAt the same time writer will do a great service by exercising the RTI way to get answers to her issues raised from the horse's mouth itself! Wonder!
The HAL is known for its shoddy work culture and poor quality control that has plagued the overhaul,servicing and other issues related to maint of the helicopter fleet.The reasons for a crash can be numerous but its a proven fact that HAL is rolling out helicopters without adequate and satisfactory checks.A lot needs to be done and HAL needs to accept responsibility for lives lost.
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