DGCA discusses safety issues with Pawan Hans

With the helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu still missing, aviation regulator DGCA today held a meeting with officials of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited to review safety issues, especially in the northeast.
       
"We held a meeting today with the Pawan Hans officials and discussed safety issues, especially in the northeast," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said here.
       
He did not elaborate while replying to a question whether there was any violation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by the state-run helicopter firm in its operations in the northeastern states.
   
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said vigorous search was being carried out in the area but there was no information so far on the whereabouts of the missing Pawan Hans chopper.
   
He said the DGCA has decided to carry out inspection of about 15 helipads in the northeast.
       
Pawan Hans had yesterday announced suspension of its commercial operations in the region, saying all its helicopters and resources based there were being deployed for search and rescue operations.
       
The four-seater single-engine Pawan Hans helicopter AS-B350-B-3 chopper, with five persons including the chief minister on board, went missing on Saturday, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang at 9.56 AM.
       
Meanwhile, the search operations to locate the missing chopper is now being confined to a 66-sq km area in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh where satellite images have shown metallic objects. The area is heavily forested and high altitude.