Uttarakhand flood: Hardwork did not pay for this pilot who saved 500

Dehradun, Sept 24: Andrew Manchanda from Mumbai is a hero for the 500 odd he saved during the

calamity, but his intention of serving the nation held him grounded for three months. Apparently, the

that he had used for saving lives and ferrying relief had crashed on site as per protocol he has to remian grounded till the probe ends.

Be it the complicated procedure of the defence ministry or the internal loopholes of the system, the pilot still awaits a word from the Investigation Board.

Captain Manchanda(47) has an experience of 23 years of flying and is a dedicated personnel who was among the first to reach the death-stricken Uttarakhand. He flew his French-made Pawan Hans Dauphin N3 directly from Mumbai, faced bad weather, conflicting winds and saved about 500 lives. It was on his sixth landing when the chopper faced conflicting winds and crashed.

As per his statement to the ministry officials in Delhi, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight recorder, two most important instruments required for th eprobe, were removed by the officials immediately. But, he is yet to hear from anyone although three months have already passed.

Appreciating the rescue mission, a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official said, "The ministry recently constituted a probe team and the inquiry will start next week, around Monday-Tuesday."

The investigations are overseen by an independent Accident Investigation Board.

OneIndia News