M A I N   N E W S

Ferrying VIPs to carrying hay, these copters do it all
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Bangalore, August 27
In a board put up at the hangar of the Mi-8 helicopters at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bangalore, an appreciation note handed out by former US President Bill Clinton is displayed side by side with a picture of jawans dropping fodder from helicopter for cattle marooned in the flood-affected areas of Karnataka.

That sums up the life of the personnel of the 109 helicopter unit based in Bangalore - flying VIPs one day and stepping into the scene for relief operations for impoverished villagers the next.

While fighter jets of the IAF hog the limelight most of the time, the helicopters are more like backroom operators who do not get much publicity despite their crucial role in providing back up support to the Army.

“In advanced areas we even carry hay for the Army’s mule contingent. These specially trained mules are no ordinary animal. They are like soldiers,” says Sri Hari, commanding officer of the IAF’s 109 helicopter unit.

Narrating one of his most memorable experience as a helicopter pilot, Sri Hari said, “When I was posted at Mohanbari in Dibrugarh, Assam, I got an SOS that a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy in an Arunachal Pradesh village needed urgent evacuation to hospital. I took off from Mohanbari and brought the woman to hospital. Later, I learnt that she had given birth to a child and both she and the child were in good health. You cannot imagine the joy the news gave me.”

Raised in Chandigarh in 1961, the 109 helicopter unit completed 50 years of its existence yesterday. Its present fleet consists of 10 Mi-8 helicopters. These will be phased out from 2012 onwards and the state-of-the-art Russian Mi-17 v5 helicopters will take their place.

The flying crews of 109, known as “The Knights”, are excited about the new acquisition. Having glass cockpits, weather radar and various other advancements over the Mi-8 helicopters, the Mi-17 v5 also has the provision of carrying additional fuel tanks that enable the multi-role helicopters to fly over 1,600 km at a stretch.

Sri Hari has seen battle in Democratic Republic of Congo, where he spent a year (2006-07) as a part of the UN forces. “The Mi-17 fleet of the IAF was flying Pakistani troops. We carried out many successful operations. A notable operation was against the Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda when he had attacked the lakeside town of Goma. In a joint operation Indian and Pakistani troops successfully repulsed the attack,” Sri Hari said.

Mi-35 helicopters of the IAF were used as gunships in that particular operation. By accurate delivery of its rockets, the Mi-35 had created mayhem among Nkunda’s forces in that engagement.

“The Pakistanis and the Chinese members

of the UN contingent treated us very well in Congo. Having noticed mango trees near Tanganyika Lake, some of us started missing mango pickles. The Pakistanis made sure that we got enough mangoes so that we could have our beloved pickle,” recalled Sri Hari.

The 109 helicopter unit got a taste of the battle first in the 1962 Sino-Indian war which took place within a year of its raising. The unit later took part in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, in the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka and in the Operation Cactus in the Maldives in 1988.

For Operation Cactus, the 109 fleet had performed the rare feat of transporting Indian troops to Male by flying more than 600 miles over the Indian Ocean non-stop.

“A helicopter can rescue a person who cannot be reached with any other mode of transport. During a military engagement, a helicopter can be used for both covert and overt operations. No fixed wing aircraft (planes) can perform so many roles. I always wanted to become a helicopter pilot,” Sri Hari said.

IAF’s 109 chopper unit turns 50

• The unit was raised in Chandigarh in 1961
• Its present fleet consists of 10 Mi-8 helicopters, which will be phased out from 2012 onwards
• Faster, tech-superior Russian Mi-17 v5 choppers will replace them