Copter operator among 5 fined for lapses in June
NEW DELHI: Aryan Aviation, the firm that operated the helicopter that crashed near the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand on Tuesday, killing all on board, was fined by the aviation regulator in June this year for violating norms, officials said.
“Aryan Aviation was one of the five operators fined for violating norms like non-adherence to maintenance schedule and fake logging,” a civil aviation ministry official said, asking not to be named.
Seven people, including the pilot, in the Bell 407 helicopter ferrying pilgrims from Kedarnath to Guptkashi in Rudraprayag district were killed on Tuesday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined five helicopter operators flying to Kedarnath ₹5 lakh each after a three-day audit conducted on June 13-16 found they were violating several rules.
They were allowed to continue operations after they took corrective measures.
Although VK Singh, owner of Aryan Aviation, told HT that the accident was unfortunate, he declined to comment on the pervious violations.
All helicopter flights to the Kedarnath temple have been suspended till further notice. “The accident took place possibly due to bad weather,” a DGCA official said on condition of anonymity. “However, we have begun our investigation.”
“The helicopter crash in Kedarnath is extremely unfortunate. We are in touch with the state government to ascertain the magnitude of the loss, and are constantly monitoring the situation,” civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted.
After the audit in June, DGCA suspended officials of two other operators for three months each. The audit was conducted after a helicopter on May 30 landed dangerously.
“The five operators were found not maintaining correct flying records... Also, the number of hours flown by a chopper on record was lower than the actual number of hours it operated,” the DGCA official said. “These serious violations had invited show-cause notices to all the seven operators, after which a hearing was conducted. Based on their responses, DGCA had fined (five of) them.”
Ongoing investigations will reveal what exactly happened in the chopper crash, said C Ravi Shankar, chief executive officer of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority. “District magistrate Rudraprayag has also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.”
“Nine aviation operators are permitted to fly 72 hours per day, where one operator is being permitted to operate eight hours a day, which means that there is a huge load on the machines flying at such high altitudes, that too in difficult geographical terrain,” said Rajeev Dhar, an aviation consultant based in Dehradun.