feature, प्रबिधि, समाचार » What's causing helicopters and planes to crash in India?

There was a case when the crew got spatially disoriented during a turn, while in another the pilots lost situational awareness as the chopper got into a 'vortex ring state' (VRS) causing rapid descent.

In VRS condition, air moves down through the rotor, turns outward and then upwards and inwards. This re-circulation of flow can negate much of the lifting force and cause a catastrophic loss of altitude. Applying more power to check descent further accelerates the downwash.

Issues like long flying hours, large number of take-offs and landings, weather changes, lack of proper rest, hurriedly prepared helipads during polls and congested airspace posed serious challenges to air travel, DGCA sources said.

Particularly during election time, frequent changes in itinerary, time management, highly stressed aIn this context, they also referred to an incident in Maharashtra in April when pilots and an engineer of a chopper were beaten up by political activists when they refused to fly to a destination sought by a leader without getting flight clearances and Election Commission's permit.

The regulator has stressed on recurrent training of pilots to upgrade skills at regular intervals. It has also held the operators responsible for ensuring that pilot proficiency and periodic monitoring to ensure that the cockpit crew acquires and maintains competency to perform safely and efficiently, the sources said

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