Several chopper pilots say they are under tremendous pressure from politicians to fly by getting Met to change visibility status
Several chopper pilots say they are under tremendous pressure from politicians to fly by getting Met to change visibility status
After the death of YSR Reddy in a helicopter crash, pilots are coming out of the closet admitting that politicians put them under tremendous pressure to flout safety norms, especially during elections.
"Pilots should be careful and study the weather report before they take-off.
But I know of instances when politicians have forced pilots to take-off under difficult weather conditions," said N Banerjee, a Mumbai-based pilot.
Demanding
Once, said Banerjee, a former Bihar chief minister forced the Meteorological Department officers to state that there was clear visibility of 1,500 metres when it was just 200 metres.
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Later, I confronted the officer for giving a false report. He told me that he could not do anything because he had orders from the CM.
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And this is not an isolated incident," added Banerjee. A chopper, depending on its engine, requires visibility of between 1,000 m and 1,500 m to take-off.
Colonel (retd) Ranjit Singh Dev, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, who now flies for a private company in Pune, agreed that some politicians do put undue pressure.
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Dev, who has 8,000 hours of flying experience and has flown politicians like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, said, "A senior minister in the then BJP-Shiv Sena government was a difficult person to deal with."
'Up to the pilot'
A chopper pilot has to fax a copy of the flight plan to the Flight Information Centre of the Air Traffic Control in the region where he is supposed to fly.
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The secretary general of the Rotary Wing Society of India, Air Commodore (Retd) B S Sivaj is a New Delhi-based chopper pilot who has been flying prime ministers and presidents.
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"Often, VIPs and politicians understand the gravity of the issue and do not pressure pilots. But when some do, it is up to the pilots to put their foot down. Nothing is more precious than life," he said.
The Other Side
The deputy director general of the Indian Meteorological Department, A B Mazumdar, denied that politicians pressure them to change weather reports.
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"We give our reports based on the reading of instruments to the ATC. Different aircraft have different parameters of visibility for flying.
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Our job is simply to give a factual reading of the weather, which we do," he said.
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