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<<EDITORIAL>>

Safety Conundrums in Heli-Ops (Offshore)

Our Deep Gratitude to

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Aerotech Aviation India (P) Ltd. AgustaWestland India Alliance Insurance Brokers (P) Ltd. Aman Aviation & Aerospace Solutions (P) Ltd. Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation Air Works India Engg. (P) Ltd. Airbus Helicopters Arki Aviation (P) Ltd. AON Global Insurance Brokers (P) Ltd. AVI-Oil India Ltd. Aviators (India) (P) Ltd. Bell Helicopter India Inc. BG Shirke Construction Technology (P) Ltd. Bharat Forge Limited Bharat Stars Services (Delhi) (P) Ltd. Boeing International Corporation Cairn India Ltd. Chemplast Sanmar Ltd Deccan Charters Ltd. Delhi Institute of Aeronautical Sciences DG Civil Aviation Govt of U.P. Dhillon Aviation (P) Ltd. Directorate of Civil Avn Govt of Maharashtra Directorate of Aviation Govt of Gujarat Directorate of Aviation Govt of Chhattisgarh Donaldson Filters India Dynamatic Technologies Ltd Elbit Systems EON Aviation (P) Ltd. Escorts Corporate Aviation Ltd. Essar Power Ltd. Executive Airways (P) Ltd. Fishtail Air (P) Ltd. (Nepal) Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd. Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd. Ghodawat Industries (P) Ltd. Govt of Arunachal Pradesh Grandslam Developers (P) Ltd. HATSOFF Heligo Charters (P) Ltd. Himalayan Heli Services (P) Ltd. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. Hiranandani Aviation (P) Ltd. Honeywell International Inc. Indocopters (P) Ltd. India Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd. India Flysafe Aviation Ltd. Indra Air (P) Ltd. ITC The Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru

Recently, RWSI Safety Team conducted Safety Orientation Workshops related to Helicopter Ops (Offshore) for the ONGC personnel deployed in the Offshore Rigs in Bombay High. The Workshops were a positive step taken by the ONGC Management in reassuring ONGC personnel deployed in the Offshore Installations that helicopters are safe to travel.

Recent spate of four major civil helicopter accidents in India during 04 Aug 15 to 25 Nov 15(of which three of them were fatal) had shaken the confidence of its frequent users. ONGC which uses helicopters to transfer around 12000 to 12500 of its workforce every month to and from offshore installations in an open sea environment was affected especially when on 04 Nov15, a Dauphin 365N3 Helicopter operated by very experienced pilots crashed into the sea near an ONGC platform off the coast of Mumbai killing its occupants.

During the week long Safety Orientation Workshops conducted by Team RWSI, numerous queries were raised by users on the subject of safety during their travel by helicopters to various offshore installations. Our Team got to allay their concerns by explaining various safe guards built into the system to prevent accidents. They were also told that as some safety issues being dynamic in nature are required to be addressed collectively on a day to day basis by Operators & Users. Some of the safety concerns raised and responses provided are outlined in the succeeding paragraphs.

Q 1. If the competency of the pilots deployed, their back ground, training and the level of maturity are as per Regulatory requirements, why are there accidents? - Periodic safetyaudits are carried out by the Regulator to ensure that the Operators comply with competency and currency of the pilots. Besides, ONGC has also ensured the Operators comply with Aviation Standard 4 which the requirement of helicopter crew, floatation system, pop out windows, emergency exit lighting, public address system, passenger headsets, upper torso restraint, health and usage monitoring system, Radar altimeter, life jackets with personal locator beckons (PLBs) and rebreathers. Introduction of these standards have led to a significant increase in the confidence of passengers traveling offshore.

Despite these measures, accident has taken place. If further oversight is required, the users have an option to get periodicsafety audit done by a Third Party.

Q 2. Is the FDTL strictly followed? - FDTL records are maintained by the Operators and Compliance to FDTL is also verified by the Regulator during their audit.

Q 3. Why did not the floats inflate in the ill-fated accident of a Dauphin 365N3 Helicopter on 04 Nov15 when it crashed into the sea near an ONGC platform? - They were informed that the reason would be known after the Accident Investigation made their findings public.

Q 4. When GPS and Wx radar are available, why can’t helicopters operate during bad visibility? The user must understand that all flying in offshore is undertaken under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) when Visual Meteorological conditions prevail (Please see the pages 6&7).

Use of Life saving Equipment. It is learnt that majority of users had not seen practical deployment of life jacket and the raft. Users are not sure if floatation devices are checked for ’reliability’. To instill confidence to the users periodic demonstration of the life saving equipment may be necessary. It is also learnt that some of the Mae West fastening plastic buckles/ fasteners in usage in Dauphin N3 are in bad shape and donot lock. These may require replacement. Locking/ Unlocking of the Sliding Door. Many personnel who regularly operate from unmanned platforms are not fully conversant with the locking/ unlocking ops of the sliding doors. Pre Boarding Discipline. Consensus view is that it should be better managed by HLO. Routinely, Health Safety Environment (HSE) Aviation advisors of individual Oil and Gas companies put in place safety considerations and minimum safety standards as applicable to their respective operations. Time has come now for Exploration & Production companies (including ONGC, Reliance, British Gas etc.) to set and demand safety standards for offshore helicopter operations on the basis of OGP Aircraft Management Guidelines to resolve the Safety Conundrums prevailing in Heli- Ops (Offshore) today.

In fact, the Standards set up by Aircraft Management Guidelines by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) are above the minimum requirements laid down by DGCA to conduct commercial air transport Operations and are based on OGP’s access to a wealth of technical knowledge and experience with its members operating around the world in many different terrains. Using these guidelines will certainly help ONGC. Yours Sincerely,

AVM (Retd.) K Sridharan VM (G) Editor-in-Chief

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- QE 31 MARCH - 2016

<<LETTERS TO THE EDITOR>>

Our Deep Gratitude to

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Dear Sir, Thanks for your most kind message. We appreciate all the input and help afforded to us by the Rotary Wing Society of India’s exemplary Team. And, we are delighted that your Heli Power India 2016 was a great success. We are honored to be a small part of your success, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with you towards bringing PBN to Heli Ops across India, first starting in Mumbai and Delhi.

Best regards, Suneel Neil Talwar, Trieco Dear Sir, Thank you for your representative’s excellent presentation on PBN at the event. We also thank you for your support to the event.

Editor.

Dear Sir, At the outset, I would like to compliment you and the entire Delhi team for conducting a well organised HPI 2016. Though our intention has always been to bring safety and cost of operations issues to the forefront of the authorities for the benefit of industry, it is sad to see that majority of the operators are indifferent to participating in such events. I feel that most of them continue to complain in general but when it comes to taking up the common cause with the concerned authorities, they invariably tend to abstain. I believe it is time for all the operators, whether big or small, that unless we approach the authorities on a common platform, no significant progress will take place in resolving the issues.

The question is how do we educate them? The same guys come to us when they are into problems on an individual basis expecting us to solve problems for them but otherwise they do not support RWSI or appreciate the efforts being put in by so many of us working for the betterment of the industry.

Anyway, we all did our best and let us hope for the best for the industry. Special thanks to Gp Capt Malhari for making certain that all admin arrangements were taken care of to everyone’s satisfaction. Once again, a big thanks to you all.

Best regards, Life Member, RWSI Dear All, Kudos to AVM and his team for pulling off such an outstanding SEMINAR - one of the best on helicopters that I have attended.

I fully endorse the views of our members regarding the support from our Corporate members.

There is certainly a need for sending the right message to them. Its very easy for them to criticize RWSI but what are they doing to strengthen this Great Institution.

Well done AVM Sir and Team RWSI- the Adm was superb.

Regards, Gen Pawar Dear Member, Let us continue our efforts without expectations.

Editor

- QE 31 MARCH - 2016

Jaiprakash Group JK Risk Managers and Insurance Brokers Ltd. JMD Consultant (P) Ltd. Jubilant Enpro India Ltd. Jupiter Aviations (P) Ltd. Travian Flight Services (P) Ltd. Kestrel Aviation (P) Ltd. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Merlinhawk Associates (P) Ltd. Mesco Airlines Navayuga Engineering Co Ltd. Navnit Aviation (P) Ltd. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. OSS Aviation (P) Ltd. OSS Air Management (P) Ltd. Orient Flight School Orbit Aviation (P) Ltd. Oxford Enterprises (P) Ltd. Pawan Hans Ltd. Prem Air (P) Ltd. Prabhatam Aviation (P) Ltd. Ramco Systems Ltd. Raymond Aviation Ltd. Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd. Reliance Transport & Travels Ltd. Ligare Aviation Ltd. RITES Ltd. Rolls-Royce India Ltd. Russian Helicopters, Joint Stock Company Sandriver Technologies Pvt. Ltd SAR Aviation Services (P) Ltd. Shree Airlines (P) Ltd. (Nepal) Sikorsky-United Technologies Ltd. Simm Samm Airways (P) Ltd. Skyone Airways (P) Ltd. Span Air (P) Ltd. SRK Aviacom (I) (P) Ltd. Survival Systems India (P) Ltd. Silver Jubilee Traveller Ltd. Tata Power Company Ltd. Thakur Institute of Aviation Technology Trans Bharat Aviation (P) Ltd. Turbomeca India Engines (P) Ltd. United Helicharters (P) Ltd. UTair India Pvt. Ltd., UTC Aerospace Systems (P) Ltd. Varman Aviation (P) Ltd. VELTech Dr.RR & Dr.SR Technical University Woodstock Helicopters Pvt Ltd.

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Create more Infrastructure for Better Usage of Helicopters Says the Minister for Civil Aviation Addressing the participants of the Inaugural Session of Heli Power India 2016 (Civil) International Seminar on 22 Mar’16 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi, Sh Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation, GOI, stated that many of our institutions (public & private) had done us proud in certain ways and found wanting also in certain ways. Referring to Air India‘s role in Yemen, he said that they did us proud by air evacuating large number of Indian citizens from Yemen along with foreign nationals (during military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies in Apr’15). Outlining the tremendous potential helicopters possess in their usage in India, he felt operators like Pawan Hans and Global Vectra should rise to their potential and serve the Indian people. He welcomed Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) as it saved lives.

While acknowledging that the civil helicopter fleet in India and number of helicopter operators were very miniscule in comparison to

other countries across the world, he felt that there was a lot of scope for expansion including its usage in regional connectivity specifically to remote population centers located in difficult terrains. He also felt that If helicopters had to take off the way that was expected, a lot of work needed to be done in creating suitable infrastructure including MROs at many locations. He then referred to the development of one such facility at Rohini (near Delhi) and looked forward to development of more such facilities. Talking of Juhu Airport, he mentioned that there were a lot of ideas for its development. He felt that Mumbai being a premier city of India, needed more such facilities.

He sought the elements of the Industry to work together and get India into the slot which would do India proud in the filed of aviation.

He said the new Aviation Policy was likely to make aviation more vibrant.

He conceded that lot of systems needed to be streamlined in the Aviation Sector and the Ministry of Civil Aviation was looking forward to ideas to work on, including those ideas that would emerge from the deliberations at the Seminar.•

DGCA to Facilitate Growth of the Industry Smt. M Sathiyavathi IAS, DG, Directorate General of Civil Aviation while addressing the participants in the Inaugural Session of Heli Power India 2016 (Civil) International Seminar on 22 Mar 16 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park New Delhi, admitted that the compliance of Regulatory Requirements itself puts a huge burden on small fleet owners (12 helicopters) to handle different operations.

She therefore sought major players in the Industry to acquire larger number of helicopters to handle different operations. She therefore sought major players in the Industry to acquire larger number of helicopters to handle different operations to help the Industry to grow.

Highlighting the usage of helicopters, she was glad that DGCA had issued the HEMS CAR ahead of the industry and was thankful to all stakeholders for having given excellent inputs to DGCA for refining the CAR. Regarding flight safety targets, she said that unfortunately, there were four civil helicopter accidents last year with 12 fatalities. There were areas where helicopter stake holders in India needed to concentrate to prevent accidents to civil helicopters such as, giving due importance to Pilot’s training. As we did not have adequate number of simulators in the country, most of the training needs were met from outside the country, resulting in a huge financial burden. But then it was an inescapable requirement and safety remained a prime mover. She was keen to have the training done on regular basis. In order to make the industry grow, public perception on safety of helicopter operations in the country would need to change. She was hopeful that the year 2016 would turn out to be a great year for helicopters without any major accident.

Regarding connectivity to the tier II and tier III towns and places in the North Eastern region and in Andaman Nicobar & Lakshadweep islands where helicopters were used as the main stay, she said the last mile connectivity could be achieved only if we increased the number of helipads with necessary infrastructural facilities. Till today we have only 4

one certified rooftop helipad in the country. All other helipads were with the State Governments and other private agencies. It was for the operators to ensure that these helipads were made safe for operations.

Speaking about the recent helicopter accident offshore in Bombay High region, she said that DGCA had to ban night offshore - operations.

She was hopeful that the required SOPs would be put in place and the night operations resumed. She felt it was absolutely necessary in providing med evac capacity for meeting any emergency which might occur in any of the off shore installations. She also sought the E&P Agencies to maintain the heli decks properly to ensure safety of offshore operations. Speaking about the operation of drones, she said that DGCA would be coming out with a circular again on the operations of drones. Emphasizing the importance of helicopters in providing the last mile connectivity, she assured the Industry that the objectives of the Civil Aviation Policy related to the sector would be fulfilled.

Responding to the issues related to the functioning of DGCA, she said that she was genuinely concerned about the delays in clearances and would work to improve the procedures. She further added that DGCA was working on automation in functioning of DGCA wherein they intended to put about 159 services completely online. They All applications would be received and processed on line thereby, reducing the delays. Instead of different directorates working in cells, all of them would be interlinked, Therefore, the information from one directorate could easily flow into other directorate and be accessible to Operators to monitor the progress directly. On the interpretation of Rules and Requirements, she said that there was a scope for refinement.

Keeping in mind the safety, she was in favour of resolving the ambiguities in CARs and come out with clearer CARS and Rules so that even the junior most level officer felt confident of implementing these requirements properly. She assured that DGCA besides being a Regulator ould like to be a facilitator so that the Aviation industry grew faster.

One could never wish away a Regulator because, ultimately without safety, the industry could never grow.•

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Captain Uday Highlights Challenges Facing Helicopter Industry at Heli Power-2016 Capt. Uday Gelli, President RWSI (Western Region) and CEO Heligo Chrterers Pvt Ltd spoke about the Challenges Facing the Helicopter Industry in India at the Inaugural Session of the International Seminar, Heli Power India (Civil) organized by RWSI at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi on 22 Mar 16. He highlighted three important factors; Regulatory Issues, Infrastructure and Financial Constraints.

Regulatory issues : Operators continue to face innumerable constraints when dealing with day to day operations. One of the main problems is the interpretation of existing rules and regulations. Due to language used and also due to certain grey areas in the rules, different officers of DGCA tend to interpret rules in different ways. Many times, these rules are interpreted in a manner that obstructs efficient way of functioning. For example, the import of helicopters has become a lengthy affair which causes huge losses to the operator. When an Operator plans to import helicopter / or acquire locally, either on lease (which is the norm is many cases) or on outright purchase, it takes about 8-10 weeks to get the helicopter endorsed on their NSOP and to commence commercial operations. In case of leased helicopters, the lease rentals become payable from the moment one takes delivery of the machine which could be at OEM’ facility or a company located in USA/ Europe etc. These delays impact the projected plans of an operator and sets them back by millions of rupees even before commencement of commercial operations.

In many instances, when the AME of an operator completes the training at the OEM’ s facility and returns to India, it may takes months before the person is orally tested for endorsement on the license.

Sometimes, the DGCA officers insist that they be sponsored by the operator to be sent for their own training at manufacturer’s facility before they conduct such oral exams. All such delays and demands cause huge delays and result into cost escalation of operations.

We believe that too much discretionary power is given to certain level of officers within DGCA and this is being misused. The above mentioned examples are just a few of many impediments that the operators face in day to day operations.

Infrastructure issues: There is no dedicated Heliport in the country and the only Airport which can be considered as Heliport is JUHU airport. However, the facilities provided by AAI is abysmal and the rentals being charged are the highest in the country. In the last one year, AAI has increased the rentals in JUHU airport by a whopping 500% how can an operator absorb such huge increase affected in such ad hoc manner? AAI has not improved the infra structure at this airport over the last many decades despite collecting crores of rupees from operators.

There is a need to upgrade this airport with more apron area for parking of helicopters, lighting for night operations to meet oil industry’s

Parcipants at the event

needs, prevent flooding of airport during monsoons etc. It was heartening to note that Pawan Hans will be making Rohini heliport in Delhi operational by June this year and private helicopters would be permitted to operate out of this heliport. That would bring relief to Delhi based operators operating out of DIAL airport.

Financial Issues: The charges being levied by AAI in terms of RNFC, Handling charges, landing charges at heliports etc are resulting in high charter rates as a result of which charter business has not yet taken off. Various charges being levied at various airports, heliports etc need to be reviewed and rationalized to reduce the cost of operations.

ATF charges: Though the rates have come down in the recent past, helicopters in general are not getting the benefit they deserve. Some states like AP have reduced the ST but other states continue to levy 2535% tax. There is a great anomaly in rates of ATF being provided in JUHU airport and Mumbai international airport - a difference of Rs. 17000 per KL. In fact the ATF in JUHU airport is the most expensive in whole of India.

In conclusion, he talked about how all of the above factors were affecting the growth of helicopters in the country and requested that DGCA, not only be the regulator but should also play a role as facilitator in keeping with the promise made by our Prime Minister "Ease of doing business in India" was the need of the day. The industry’s wish list to the Minister was simple - "Please Reduce the Charges Across the Board by 50%" This will in some ways mitigate the financial stress being experienced by helicopters industry.

Shri. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pasupati, Hon. Minister of Civil Aviation, GOI; Mrs. M Satyavathi, IAS, DG DGCA; Ms Usha Padhee, IAS, Jt Secy, MOCA; Dr. BP Sharma, CMD, Pawan Hans Ltd and Dr. Ramana Rao Director GVK’s EMRI addressed the delegates. The delegates included representatives from Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, BSF, ARC, MOCA, DGCA, AAI, BCAS, HAL, PHL, GVHL, Helicopter Manufacturers, Operators, RWSI Corporate members, Governing Council & Life Members and foreign delegates. The details of the addresses given by distinguished delegates are at the Special Report attached.•

- QE 31 MARCH - 2016

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Offshore Ops at Night by Civil Helicopters?

The helicopter night operation to and from offshore platforms/rigs has been a matter of concern for the regulator.

The existing rules permitting night VFR operation are limited to airfield control zone (upto 3 NMs) and all flights beyond this limit are permitted under IF rules only.

To support oil companies engaged in production and exploration, offshore operations were given special dispensation to operate under VFR flight plan at night to meet special requirement such as Medi-evac. The helicopter is stationed at offshore location as home airfield for Mumbai High has no facility for night operations. In the event of night call out the helicopter from offshore is required proceed to Santa-Cruz airport for night landing. To meet increased requirement of short sector in field & intra-field, from dawn to dusk, four helicopters also night stop at offshore location. These helicopters operate during daylight hours only. In the event of any emergency at the installation in which these helicopters are located,these helicopters will be required to take-off and return to base. The aircrews manning these helicopters are required to be IFR rated and hold night currency on the role. There is therefore additional requirement of night flying training of these aircrews to meet night currency for offshore operations.

For night offshore operations the crew and aircrew must be IFR rated & helicopter IFR kitted. In addition, the crew should hold currency for night landing on platforms & rigs.

For offshore operation the crew require more rigorous training regime & skills. The night currency requirements are spelt out in CAR Ops 8 (H). With the prevailing restrictions on night flying training, the flight crews are unable to maintain their night offshore currency which has impacted night helicopter operations offshore.

The air space beyond 25 NMs from Mumbai VOR is uncontrolled airspace, from ground level to 7500 ft. In the 1980s, the charts indicated uncontrolled airspace with intense helicopter activity. The helicopters to & from offshore locations operate on VFR flight plan even when prevailing met conditions are IMC. However, rules require all operation over sea on IFR flight plan. For flights to be conducted on IFR flight plan Navigation & landing facilities, communication and airspace management control are essential pre requisites. In addition, it is required that operating procedures for separation of traffic and procedures for letdowns & landing in degraded met conditions be duly approved by the regulator and put in place.

The helicopter offshore operations in support of E&P oil companies have been in existence for at-least forty years and are likely to continue for another twenty years if not more. To ensure that operations are conducted safely the environment must be conducive for safe operations. There is an urgent need to upgrade these operations from VFR to IFR. In order to create safe environment, the pre-requisites include monitoring control.

Unfortunately, AAI has not involved itself in handling all helicopter traffic beyond 25 NMs in offshore sector. There is an urgent need to provide dedicated ATC controller in Mumbai approach control 6

since AAI is already charging ONGC around rupees 25crores annual fee for their services. Further, ONGC should consider repeater stations at offshore location to ensure communication at all times.

In developed countries such as North Sea operations dedicated low looking radars are located at coastline to meet the demand of low flying helicopters operating offshore.

To provide close proximity navigation facility, low powered NDBs are installed on all platform/rigs, barring small unmanned platforms. The NDB as approach aid is of vintage model and slowly being phased out due to its inherent poor reliability factor. a) The communication for co-ordination and information on helicopter movement is provided by platform/rig Radio officer.

The ROâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license permit communication to & from aircraft, therefore he is merely information provider to the helicopter crew. b) For the en-route separation of all traffic, procedures are

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in place and in use by all operators. Approved letdown procedures for landing in IMC under IFR with in the controlled zone exists but not beyond. c) The helicopters use airspace below 3000 feetand follow different heights on out bound from Juhu to Mumbai High – Bell 412s fly at 2500 feet and Dauphin and Aw 139s fly at 3000 feet and for inbound to Juhu, they fly at 1500 feet and 2000 feetrespectively. En-route safety altitude as prescribed under IFR, which is “1000 ft. over highest obstruction within 10 NMs on either side of track” is also maintained by the helicopters.

The helicopters operate offshore in large number in North Sea, south China Sea, Gulf of Mexico and other location. The helicopter offshore operations are conducted in North Sea from airports in UK/ Norway / Holland & in South China Sea from Malaysia / Brunei / Thailand under procedures duly approved by their respective regulatory authority. The procedures are duly approved both for day & night IFR operations.

In India the helicopters have been operating offshore in support of oil industry in India for last forty years. Unfortunately, no procedures beyond the approach control airspace of Santacruz airport have been evolved for air space management (for vast air space beyond 25 NMs).

For want of this initiative, it is unfortunate that helicopter operators having competent skilled flight crews are unable to provide medievachelicopter to personnel stationed at offshore locations.

For safety and efficiency of helicopter operations offshore (including night medi-eevac), it is suggested that some of the procedures currently in use in other countries such Rig-Radar or GPS PINS approach to platform / rig be adopted. a) The rig-radar approach is a standard procedure in use in North Sea for approach to landing. The procedure is pilot interpreted using aircraft radar in Nav mode & platform NDB. The airborne radar can be effectively used to provide very accurate distance measuring for FAF. The CAA(UK) approved approach plates are readily available. The AAI has developed PINS approach utilizing satellite based system GAGAN. Similar standard procedure should be approved using existing on board GPS system approach & landing procedure. All helicopters operating in India use on board GPS for Navigation & remote area location. b) To improve communication between aircraft and air traffic controller it is necessary to install VHF repeater station at strategic offshore location. c) To ensure positive control, dedicated ATC controller should be provided by AAI at Mumbai approach control for helicopter traffic for air space management. This is an urgent requirement. d) The AAI should re-designate air space beyond 25NMs as controlled airspace from ground level to 7500 ft. e) Efforts should be made to position Low Looking Radar or satellite based air space management system for area of intense helicopter activity. f) The platform operators must be directed to get their NDBs recalibrated.

In order to overcome the regulatory constraints, AAI and operators should evolve Safe Procedures duly approved by the Regulator and published so that safe offshore operations (including night medi-evac) can continue for the future. • - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

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India Aviation 2016 Show at Secunderabad Concludes The fifth India Aviation 2016 air show concluded at Secunderabad. on 20th Mar’16 the event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI to provide aviation and allied industries an opportunity to showcase their products/ services and deliberate upon the strategies. The show was intended to stimulate momentum for growth of Indian Aviation Industry which is expected to become the third-largest in next four years’ time – with the proposed new National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016 giving the necessary impetus.

Over 5000 aviation and aerospace experts, including manufacturers, service providers, airport operators, airlines, technology service providers, investors, financial institutions, and market experts, from across the world participated in the event.

More than 200 exhibitors from 12 countries took part in the event.

The event theme this year was “Indian Civil Aviation Sector: potential as global manufacturing and MRO hub”.

The leading aircraft and helicopter manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus, Textron, Embraer, Gulfstream. Dassault, Agusta Westland, Bell Helicopters, Russian Helicopters, and Airbus Helicopters participated in the show. Engine manufacturers – CFM, UTC, GE Aviation, Rolls Royce, and Pratt & Whitney – showcased their products and expertise.

About 29 types of aircraft ranging from small business jets to big aircrafts were on display, like the B777 by Air India, Dornier by HAL, MI-172 by Pawan Hans, A-350 by Qatar Airways; A330-300 by Air Asia, B-787 by Etihad, A380 by Emirates, four Aerobatic aircraft by Mark Jefferies, and A-320-neo by Air India.

Major announcements were made, including the Airbus plan to establish a pilot and maintenance training centre near Delhi, and the Telanagana government’s pact with Aero Campus Aquitaine of Bordeaux Metropole of

France to set up India’s first training centre for skill development. The five-day event inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee saw Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju releasing the FICCI KPMG Knowledge Paper, where it was said that India was on its way to become the third-largest aviation market by 2020. Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey stated that investments totaling US $ 12.1 billion was expected during 2012-2017, with US $ 9.3 billion coming from the private sector for construction of new airports, expansion and modernization of existing airports, etc.• 8

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Defence Minister Inaugurates Defexpo - 2016 at Goa

The 9th edition of Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition on Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems was inaugurated on 28 Mar 16 by the Defence Minister, Shri Manohar Parrikar at Naqueri Quitol, Quepem Taluka, South Goa. The four-day event is was organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, first time in Goa.

Medium Scale Industries in Defence Sector, quoting that many innovative ideas had come from these sectors. He further added that, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Defence Sector was capped at 49%, cases for higher FDI could be considered on case to case basis. He commended the Organisers and the Delegates present for the overwhelming response to Defexpo 2016 with a record participation of Companies in the event.

At the outset Shri Parrikar announced that the Defence Procurement Procedure-2016 (DPP-2016) had been uploaded on the website of Ministry of Defence, commenting that it would provide a push to the ‘Make in India’ campaign. He said the Government was proactive in its ‘Make in India’ initiative and desired to include ‘Startup India’ which would find opportunities in Defence sector. The Defence Minister stated that the Government had tweaked the policies to address the concerns of defence manufacturers and suppliers and enhanced transparency. The new procurement policy being promulgated by DPP-2016 would ensure faster pace in procurement especially through newly introduced categories under Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) provisions. Such provisions would encourage Indian Industry in Defence Sector, he added. He acknowledged the contributions of the Small and

The inaugural ceremony saw live demonstrations of military equipment including Main Battle Tank Arjun Mk I and II, various types of heavy Bridging equipment, Wheeled Armoured Vehicle, Sarang Aerobatic team and Naval LCA. MBT Arjun Mk II and Wheeled Armoured Vehicle were being displayed for the first time in any exhibition.

The Chief of the Army Staff General Dalbir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan, Defence Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri AK Gupta and Senior Officials from the three Services and Ministry of Defence, participated in the event.In comparison to Defexpo 2014 where 624 Companies participated; over 1000 Companies, both foreign and Indian, took part this year.•

Naval Utility Helicopter

Pierre de Bausset President Airbus India Group Pvt. Ltd.

Airbus has partnered with Mahindra Group and is proposing to produce military helicopters in India under the framework of the Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), the Naval Multi-Role Helicopters (NMRH) and the Reconnaissance & Surveillance Helicopters (RSH) programmes. "Our intent is to put India on the world map for military helicopter manufacturing together with Mahindra. To give you an example, if we are selected for the NUH programme where we are offering our ’Panther’ helicopter, we will move the FAL to India and establish India as a global hub for this platform," Bausset said.

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Heliskiing and Rescue in Manali by UTair Helicopters

UTair India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi’s AS 350B3 helicopters are engaged in Heli Skiing flying in Manali for last three years. In the year 2014, its helicopters flew for Heli skiing in Gulmarg also.

The small Indian town of Manali is the base for Himachal Heli skiing. Manali is situated 500 kilometres from Delhi in the peaceful Indian state of Himachal Pradesh at the northern end of the Kullu Valley (“the Valley of the Gods”). Manali is a bustling town by the Beas river at an altitude of nearly 2000 m surrounded by beautiful deodar cedar forest and huge peaks soaring to more than 6000 m. Manali is the hub for adventure tourism in the Greater Himalayas—for good reason, as the towering mountains and numerous valleys in the region make for some of the best trekking amidst awesome Himalayan scenery. The PirPanjal range of the Greater Himalaya, where the ski trips are conducted, has an average elevation of more than 4000 metres (13,000 ft). This is alpine country at its best. Most skiing takes place between high valley floors around 2700 m and ridges at 4700 m, with verticals averaging between 900 m and 1200 m. However, some of the most spectacular terrains are as high as 5000 m.

snow quality in Gulmarg is unique due to the high altitude and the very southern exposure of the continent on around 35° degrees latitude.

The high quality powder snow, the spaced pine treesand virgin and undiscovered peaks leaves an unforgettable experience on the skiers.

UTair India is proud to be associated with the skiing activities in both the above locations for last several years. The helicopters are flown by highly experienced Swiss and French Pilots for the high end clients.

The heli skiing season in Gulmarg is January-Feb and in Manali it is February-March.

While flying for heli skiing at Manali, UTair India helicopters also rescued 8 students of Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur, Punjab who were trapped in bad weather during trekking at Lahol in the high hills of Kullu and Manali on 13th and 14th March, 2016. Last year, in October, UTair India’s helicopters rescued injured Para gliders of Paragliding World Cup 2015 in Bir Billing and Raid de Himalaya Car rally participants in J&K.

The Himalayas are known for their deep and dry powder snow. The

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J.P. Goel, Executive Director, UTair India Pvt. Ltd., 24 Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi 110001

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<<MILITARY-INDIAN AIR FORCE>>

IAF Conducts Day - Night Exercise ‘Iron Fist’ in Rajasthan Indian Air Force’s day-night exercise demonstrating its combat and fire power was conducted on 18 Mar’16 at Rajasthan’s Pokhran firing range in the presence of Hon’ble President Shri Pranab Mukherjee and Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of the Air Staff in his welcome address gave an insight into the exercise and the modernisation in the Indian Air Force. During his address, he stated that the primary objective of this exercise was to reassure the Nation about JAF18 commitment and capabilities in safeguarding the national interests.

The Air Chief said that IAF moved ahead on its transformation path despite certain constraints, maintaining a high combat potential for meeting challenges.

The event comprised of six packages depicting six themes in which more than 180 aircraft, including fighters, transport and helicopters participated.

Fly Past. The great journey of the IAF over eight decades was summed up by means of this package, with the aircraft of yesteryear flying wing to wing along with the latest acquisitions of the Indian Air Force. A MiG-27 aircraft heralded the commencement of the flypast by towing the Ex “Iron Fist” banner, which was followed by Supersonic run by the MiG-29 aircraft.

The “real time recce” capability of the IAF was displayed by a Jaguar aircraft. Vintage aircraft flypast by “Tigermoth” evoked the memories of the birth of military aviation in India and was followed by the Pilatus, the latest trainer aircraft of the IAF. The fly past by a mixed formation comprising a MiG-21 Bison, MiG-27 Upgrade, MiG-29 and the mighty Su-30, showcased the transformation of the IAF over the decades.

Net Enabled Operations. This segment commenced by the majestic fly past of the indigenously developed Airborne Early Warning and Control System and the display of AWACS aircraft.

The flypast was followed by a synchronized multiple aircraft weapon delivery demonstration of precision based bombing at simulated enemy targets by Mirage-2000, Su-30, MiG-27 Upgrade aircraft and the Jaguar.

Air Defence Operations. After demonstrating the offensive capabilities, the exercise demonstrated the multi-layered Air Defence Operations of the IAF. It comprised of the fly past by the Flight Refuelling aircraft (IL-78 FRA) along with two Su-30 aircraft and the indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, which displayed its swing role attack capabilities by delivering Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) followed by firing an air to air missile, engaging both targets with deadly precision. The phase also included Surface to Air Guided Weapons like the IGLA shoulderfired missile system and the OSA-AK missiles striking down airborne targets successfully. There was also a spectacular simulation of a Combat Search and Rescue operation carried out by the IAF’s versatile helicopters, the Mi-35, Mi-25 and Mi-17V5.

Combat Support Operations. This phase showcased the very important role played by the Indian Air Force in support of the ground forces. There were numerous targets simulating the enemy’s vital assets, engaged on the ground from the air by a

variety of aircraft on the IAF’s inventory. Apart from the fighters, the assault landing capability of versatile C-130 J aircraft and the fire fighting capability of the Mi-17V5, were also displayed in this phase.

Flying Displays. After the demonstration of live weapon, an array of aerobatic displays by the Sarangs, the Suryakirans and the Su-30 added a dash of colour to the evening. The Air Warrior Drill Team (AWDT) and Air Force Symphony Orchestra (AWSO) enthralled the audience with their performances.

All Weather Operations. As the night drew upon the desert skies, the night capabilities of the IAF came to the fore. A number of targets were engaged in this phase by fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters using rockets as well as bombs. The “Search light” and Slithering Operations engaged the attention of the audience while the Combat Free Fall during the night phase showed how the IAF could take on insertion of troops in the enemy territory undetected. The Akash Missile firing was a first in the history of Fire Power Demonstration. The exercise inched towards a close by a beautiful and awe-inspiring display of Flare dispensation by a C-130J and an An-32 aircraft. The final event of the exercise was the awesome display of firepower by a MiG-27 Upgrade aircraft, giving a befitting close to a grand display.

The event showcased more than 22 types of platforms and Weapons Systems. Frontline fighter aircraft including Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000, Jaguar, MiG-29, Attack helicopters, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and high tech AWACS displayed their potential during the show in which prestigious indigenous project – Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas” was also a part. Transport aircraft like An-32, Embraer, IL-76, IL-78 and C-130J participated in all their glory while medium lift helicopters (Mi-17, Mi-17 1V, Mi-17 V5) and attack helicopters (Mi-25, Mi-35) constituted the rotary wing ingredients.

Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parikar, Hon’ble Rajasthan Governor Shri Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister Smt Vasundhara Raje and Chiefs of Indian Army and Indian Navy were among others present during the Exercise.

The President, Prime Minister and the Defence Minister complimented Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Air Marshal RK Dhir, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Air Command for the excellent Fire Power Demonstration.•

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<<MILITARY-INDIAN AIR FORCE>>

President Awards Standard to 119 HU and Colours to 28 Equipment Depot The Honourable President of India and the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces, Shri Pranab Mukherjee awarded the prestigious Presidential Colours to 28 Equipment Depot and Presidential Standard to 119 Helicopter Unit at a ceremonial parade, held at Air Force Station Jamnagar on 04 March 16. The Air Officer Commanding of 28 Equipment Depot, Air Commodore NR Chitnis and Commanding Officer of 119 Helicopter Unit, Wing Commander Suseem Siwach received the President Colours and Standard respectively.

The Operational Squadrons of IAF become eligible for award of Presidential Standard after completion of 18 years of service to the Nation. The selection is based on the Unit’s performance and achievements during peace as well as hostilities. The honour is an acknowledgement of the meritorious service rendered by the Units.

A ceremonial parade to mark the occasion, was commanded by Group Captain S Chauhan, Chief Operations officer, Air Force Station Jamnagar. The President also released First Day covers of 28 Equipment Depot and 119 Helicopter Unit at the function. There was a spectacular display of precision and dare devilry by the Air Warrior Drill Team and fly-past consisting of Jaguar, Mi-17 V5 and Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team which mesmerised the audience. The breathtaking fly-past was synchronized with significant events of the parade. The centre of attraction for the entire ceremony was an impressive display of the ALH Sarang display team in their attractive colours which enthralled the gathering.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pranab Mukherjee expressed confidence that Indian armed forces would rise to the occasion whenever called upon to keep the country’s flag always flying high. He also said that the professional excellence, grit and determination exhibited by both the units over the years was highly commendable. He complimented all the personnel and families of 28 Equipment Depot and 119 Helicopter Unit and wished them continued success in their future endeavours.

Interacting with media after the function, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of the Air Staff said that Indian Air Force was on a trajectory of modernization and transforming into a strategic aerospace power with full spectrum capability. Accretion through new acquisitions, replacement of obsolete equipment with state-of-the art inductors and up gradation of vintage weapon platforms would definitely go a long way in enhancing IAF capabilities. Induction and speedy operationalisation of IAF’s new assets and aircraft had afforded unprecedented response capabilities. He also emphasized that the long term planning of the IAF would ensure that the men and women in blue continue to achieve greater level of professional skills and capabilities.

He stated that the challenge for IAF was to manage the fast-paced changes effectively, without compromising on the high operational Standards.

The Governor of Gujarat, Raksha Mantri, Raksha Rajya Mantri, and Defence Secretary, Senior Govt Officials from Gujarat administration along with other senior Defence and Civilian dignitaries were present on the occasion. From the IAF, in addition to Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Air Marshal RK Dhir. AOC-in-C, SWAC, AOC-in-C Maintenance Command, Commodore Commandant of the 119 HU, AF, Air Cmde Mohan Gupta also attended the function.•

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<<MILITARY-INDIAN ARMY>>

Cheetah / Chetak Replacement - Confusion Pevails 2015. But kamov-226T agreement has left the fate of the The Cheetah /Chetak replacement programme continues 197 RSH project hanging in balance with no clarity from to flounder despite the Government to Government the Government – while the RSH project has not been agreement between India and Russia for the supply of 200 cancelled, total confusion reign’s in the industry Kamov- 226T light helicopters under the Make in India and the armed forces regarding its future.

Policy. Presently there is no clarity on as to how this project will move forward and both sides seem to be struggling to Simultaneously, HAL’s new Light Utility Helicopter meet the challenging ‘Make in India’ requirement of (LUH) Project (3 Ton class) which is expected to make its building 50 per cent of the helicopter in India. While the first flight this month seems to be on track. According to HAL has been designated as the nodal agency for this critical HAL projections, the LUH would complete flight programme along with Russian Helicopters there are a certification by mid-2017 and enter production by the number of complex issues involved which need to be [Lt Gen BS Pawar PVSM AVSM year-end. HAL is required to provide 187 LUH’s in the addressed in order to move ahead – at the present moment Ex ADG, Army Avn Corps] overall requirement of 400 plus by the Armed Forces in from details available this seems to be a Herculean task. this category – these will be built at HAL’s new facility at Tumkur where The main issue is the overall composition of the Ka-226T helicopter in terms of various components and systems. Russian Helicopters, which has developed the Kamov-226T, has sourced its twin engines - which constitute one-third of the chopper’s cost – from the French company, Turbomeca. Other key systems and avionics have been sourced from some other companies in the global market.As per reports the Russian Government has accepted responsibility only for indigenising Russian components – a step which would result in a short fall of the indigenisation levelsrequired as per the Make in India Programme.

This also means that HAL as the nodal agency on behalf of the Indian Government will have to negotiate separately with third country vendors for indigenising their components and systems, which makesup for about two-third of the helicopter – how this going to be achieved is beyond imagination keeping in mind that the main components involved are engines and advanced avionics. Further, adding to the complexity is the fact that as per the Government agreement, Russian Helicopters will deliver the first 60 helicopters in flyaway condition - these would be assembled entirely in Russia, with little scope for indigenisation. That would also be the case with the next 40 or so helicopters, shipped as kits from Russia to be assembled in India. This leaves the balance 100 helicopters for meeting the 50 per cent ‘Make in India’ goals over the entire fleet of 200. It is understood that some Indian private companies may also be part of this programme especially to build Kamov-226T components and systems in India. Keeping in mind the complexity of the case it is anybody’s guess whether this project will ever see the light of the day or will wither away like some other such agreements earlier.

In the meantime there seems to be no clarity on the fate of the latest RFI which was issued for the never ending RSH programme on 31 October 2014, in a ‘Buy-and-Make-India’ approach with a certain number of helicopters to be supplied by the selected OEM in flyaway condition and the remaining numbers to be built at a production facility in India, by an Indian partner through licensed transfer of technology.

Essentially, this RFI envisaged identification of probable Indian Vendors (private or public), including those who would form Joint Ventures (JVs) and establish production arrangements with an OEM so as to provide the helicopters, followed by licensed production in the country.

The response date was extended twice from the original 17 December 2014, with the final date being pegged at 20 April 2015. This generated much interest, and was key topic of speculation during Aero India

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the foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister in January this year.

Ka-226T

LUH

The success of this programme in the time frame envisaged above may spell the death knell for the Ka-226T, for one cannot for see any progress in the near future, given the complexities involved- maybe the Government needs to simultaneously keep the RSH programme also going forward to cater for inordinate delays and bottlenecks in the Ka226T project.

With the current dismal state of the Chetak and Cheetah fleet and serious maintenance and safety concerns, the writing is clearly on the wall. There is understandable disquiet on this matter within India’s aviation fraternity which needs to be taken serious note of, as this gravely impinges on operational preparedness.•

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<<MILITARY-INDIAN NAVY>>

2nd Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Co-operation meeting between India & United States concludes in New Delhi The 2nd meeting of the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Co-operation (JWGACTC), constituted under the auspices of the Indo – US Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, was organised in India from 15 to 18 Feb 16. An 11 member delegation of the US Side, headed by Rear Admiral Thomas J Moore, Program Executive Officer, Aircraft Carriers (United States Navy), visited various defence/ industrial installations in India including the Shore Based Test Facility at Goa, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bengaluru and Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi. The delegation also visited the first Indian Indigenous Aircraft Carrier being constructed at CSL. The concluding session of the Joint Working Group Meeting was held on 18 Feb 16 at New Delhi and was co-chaired by Vice Admiral GS Pabby, Controller Warship Production and Acquisition and Rear Admiral Thomas J Moore, Program Executive Officer, Aircraft Carriers (United States Navy). During this meeting, various aspects of cooperation in the field

Vice Admiral GS Pabby, Controller Warship Production & Acquisition, Indian Navy with RADM Thomas J Moore, Program Executive Officer, Aircraft Carriers, US Navy on Conclusion of the 2nd Meeting of the JWGACTC.

of aircraft carrier technology were discussed and a joint statement signed.

The meeting was attended by members of the Joint Working Group and relevant representatives from IHQ MoD (N), HQIDS, DRDO and Ministry of External Affairs, India.•

India, Brazil and South Africa Conduct Joint Naval Exercise at Goa-IBSAMAR-V The fifth edition of exercise IBSAMAR between Brazil, India and South Africa was conducted from 19th – 29 February 2016 off the West Coast of India, with the Harbour Phase being conducted at Goa. This is the first time that Exercise IBSAMAR has been conducted in Indian waters; all previous editions being held at/off South Africa. The primary aim of this exercise was to increase interoperability amongst the three navies as well as develop common understanding and procedures for maritime security operations.

Naval cooperation between the three countries epitomises the strong long term strategic relationship between the three democracies and vibrant economies. Initiated in 2006, Exercise IBSAMAR is the most visible manifestation of this convergence of democratic values, economic interests and maritime cooperation. The scope and complexity of Exercise IBSAMAR has increased steadily and to 5th edition in 2016. IBSAMAR has matured into a complex trilateral exercise involving participation of ships, submarine, aircrafts and special forces from Brazil, Indian and South Africa.

The scope of Exercise IBSAMAR–V included wide-ranging professional interactions during the Harbour Phase and a diverse range of operational activities at sea during the Sea Phase. The thrust of exercises at sea this year was on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Surface firings, Air Defences, Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS), Flying Operations, Search and Rescue and tactical procedures.

During Exercise IBSAMAR-V, the Indian Navy were represented by INS Mumbai an indigenous designed and built guided missile destroyer, INS Trishul a stealth frigate and INS Shalki a Shishumar class submarine.

In addition, various Fast Attack Craft, Sea Harriers and Mig 29K fighter aircraft, Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft and integral rotary wing helicopters are also scheduled to participate in the trilateral exercise.

The Brazilian Navy was be represented by Brazilian Naval Ship Amazonas, with embarked Special Forces, Commanded by Commander Alessander Felipe Imamura Carneiro. The South African Navy was be represented by South African Naval Ship SAS Spioenkop with integral helicopter and embarked Special Forces, Commanded by Captain MA Boucher. Both the ships were on return passage after participating in the International Fleet Review (IFR) held at Visakhapatnam from 04- 08 Feb 16. Commencing at IFR, Exercise IBSAMAR V marked an operational chapter to nearly a month-long interaction of these ships with the Indian Navy.

Ex IBSAMAR highlights the maritime dimension of the IBSA Dialogue Forum and the robust South-South cooperation. The current edition was another significant step in strengthening mutual confidence and inter-operability as well as sharing best practices between the Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies.

The exercise will also go a long way in enhancing maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond, for the benefit of the global maritime community.•

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Conception/Réalisation :Free-Lance’s l’Agence - ©Getty Images.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Inaugural Session of Heli Power India-2016 (Military) Heli Power India-2016 was held on 21-22 March 2016 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi under the aegis of the Rotary Wing Society of India. The object of the International Seminar was to provide a platform to helicopter operators, users, manufacturers, Govt agencies and professionals to share and exchange the latest information and views on all aspects of usage next Gen Helicopters & Systems which will be of immense benefit to the industry. The first day was devoted to military helicopters.

The seminar on 21 Mar 2016 began with the inaugural session. After the traditional lighting of the lamp and release of the Seminar brochure, AVM K Sridharan, President RWSI delivered the welcome address. After welcoming the distinguished delegates, he reminded the audience about the increasing roles being played by military helicopters in combat support in future conflicts, both during peace and war, especially with emerging technologies. He emphasized that an exposure to the newer technologies in vertical lift in the Seminar was a way to educate and indoctrinate the aviation community for bringing in progressive changes in structure and doctrine that will allow us to make major leaps forward in handling the potential threats. Details of his address are placed at page-24.

The next item was Keynote Address on the Next Gen Vertical Lift Technology (VLT) by Mr. Alan C Ewing, Senior Manager, International Military Business Development, Bell Helicopter Textron.

This address was primarily on the use of the tilt rotor and the roles which it could play keeping in view its vertical lift capability, speed, range and aerial refueling. He touched upon tilt rotor history and its relationship to the Joint Multi Role (JMR) programme and Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme being conducted currently. Relevant details of the address are placed at page-25.

The 3rd address was delivered by Major General Kanwal Kumar, ADG Army Aviation. This was a lucid address which covered the challenges facing the Army Aviation in adopting the emerging future Helicopter technologies. He emphasized that the Army Aviation is the maneuver arm of the ground forces. Therefore, they have set vision for them to be able to provide integral reconnaissance, surveillance, combat lift and combat fire capability for the field commanders across this entire spectrum of war. The future operations would throws up challenges for the technical and doctrinal changes.

Details of his address have been placed at page-26.

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Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa AVSM YSM VM, Vice Chief of Air Staff is seen lighting the lamp at the inaugural session of Heli Power India-2016 at Air Force Auditorium, Subrotopark, New Delhi.

Thereafter, Mr. Sanjeev Kakkar, Dir, Business Development, Military Sys Operations, GE Aviation took the podium to highlight GEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development of "Next Generation Power Plants for Helicopters. Talking of GEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in India, he discussed the development of F414 IN 20 engine on the LCA Mark 1 and Mark 1A & F414 INS6 engine for the LCA Mark 2. He spoke about Helicopter engines for the Apache helicopter which will enter service with IAF in near future. He further informed about the GE engines, that also power the S70B helicopter which is currently under negotiations for the Indian navy ASW requirements. GE in addition provides CFM engines for the P8I aircraft with the Indian navy and also dowdy propellers for C130J currently in the IAF fleet. Relevant details of the address are placed at page-28.

Next to speak was Cmde Himanshu S Sapre DNAS (Air) IN, who offered us "A view from Naval Aviation". In providing the Naval perspective on the subject, his coverage included Operational Role of Naval Helicopters, Challenges, Future Projects, Prospects and Way Ahead. Coming to the operational role of Indian Navy, he said that this being an important instrument of National Maritime Policy, must operate as a multidimensional force that is capable of countering the full range of security challenges across the entire spectrum of conflict in maritime domain. The next generation helicopters therefore would be required to undertake missions ranging from low intensity maritime operations to full fledge conflict. Details of his address are placed at page-29.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> Thereafter, Mr. DK Venkatesh, Dir. (Engg & R&D) HAL took the podium and gave us an informative presentation on the "Next Gen Helicopters in the making at HAL". This address mainly covered the role of HAL in the field of helicopters in India. Starting from being a license manufacturer of helicopters, HAL has transformed itself to becoming a dedicated full-fledged helicopter complex encompassing design, testing, manufacturing and servicing of indigenously made multi-mission, multi-role helicopters. He said that HAL has manufactured close to 4000 aircraft including helicopters and 5000 aero engines.

They have indigenously designed 15 types of aircraft and helicopters. Besides manufacture of Dhruv helicopter from Mk I to Mk IV, HAL has ventured into design & development of the Light combat helicopter of 5.8 ton class and Light Utility Helicopter of the 3 ton class.

In respect of helicopter requirement in the country, he saw progress towards increased payload, improved range, agility, reduced footprint and improvement in speed and vibration - which is going to be the roadmap. The areas being addressed include the retreating blade, compressibility effects, control of engine and transmission etc. He saw Co-axial contra rotating with ducted prop in the tail as the way forward in the future which probably will give helicopter speed in access of 300 Knots. He also mentioned that HAL was looking at manufacturing unmannedhelicopters planned to be used for future operations. Relevant details of the address are placed at page-30.

This was followed by Chief Guest, Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Vice Chief of Air Staff, addressing the seminar. Right in the beginning, the Vice Chief of Air Staff stated that it was his proud privilege to give the concluding remarks of Inaugural session where there were two sets of talks. The first was what is the technology in next generation engines, technology in vertical lift, technology in Make in India through HAL and then the Navy and Army presented what do they need to operate Rotary Wing aircraft in their respective services in the future.

He personally thanked the Rotary Wing Society of India for carrying out the stellar role in which they were able to get all rotary wing professionals across the country into one platform so that they could discuss what they need and how do they go in the future and what was the future of rotary wing flying.

He said that the IAF started operating Sikorsky S-55 helicopters in 1954 and it is now spread to all three services and Coast Guard. In the last two decades, number of helicopters in the civil aviation also has multiplied manifolds and nowhere in the world helicopters fly under such diverse conditions as in India.

He mentioned that he held the rotary wing pilots in utmost respect having found them attacking the same targets as the fighters during

Parcipants at the event

the Kargil conflict with very little protection and most importantly no ejection seat.

He recalled that the last decade saw a large scale induction of Mi17 V5 helicopters in the IAF capable of day, night & bad weather operations which provided a substantial jump in vertical lift capability. It will increase even further once IAF inducts the Chinook. He cited the recently concluded IAF Day-Night Exercise â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Iron Fistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Rajasthan where in a number of targets were engaged by helicopters using rockets as well as bombs. He said, this capability would enhance even further once IAF inducts the Apache and light combat helicopters. Details of his address are placed at page-31. The inaugural session came to an end with a vote of thanks by Gp Capt (Retd.)M K Labroo, GC Member, RWSI. Special Reports on the Technical Sessions conducted in the Main Auditorium and the Product & Services presentations made in the Conference Hall will be published in the subsequent issues of Rotor India.

During the evening function six awards were presented to RWSI Life Members for their outstanding voluntary contributions to RWSI activities. Details of awards distribution have been at page 63-64.

- QE 31 MARCH - 2016

Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa AVSM YSM VM, Vice Chief of Air Staff is seen cutting the ribbon during the inauguration of Exhibition of Aviation Products displayed by OEMs in the foyer at Air Force Auditorium, Subrotopark, New Delhi.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Text of the Speeches delivered by Panelists at the Inaugural Session

Welcome Address by AVM K Sridharan (Retd.) VM (G), President RWSI It gives me great pleasure to extend warm welcome to all the delegates at the7 th Heli Power India International Seminar’ organized by Rotary Wing Society of India.

It is indeed a great privilege to welcome this distinguished gathering of stalwarts and stakeholders of Rotary Wing Aviation in India and abroad. Our special welcome to our or Chief Guest Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Vice Chief of Air Staff, Major General Kanwal Kumar, ADG Army Aviation. We are missing Rear Admiral Philipose George, he is likely to make it to the event little later but on his behalf we have Cmdr Sapre. We extend a warm welcome to Sapre we have D K Venkatesh Director (Engineering & R&D) HAL. Mr Sanjeev Kakkar Director Business Development, Military System Operations, GE Aviation and Mr. Alan C Ewing, Senior Manager, International Military Business Development Bell Helicopter. In keeping with the current environment and requirement to the armed forces to induct approx.

1000+ helicopters in the coming decade an appropriate theme has been chosen for today’s event that is ’Prospects and Challenges in Usage of Next Generation Helicopters and Systems in India’.

Objective of the seminar is to provide platform to helicopter operators, users, manufacturers, government agencies and professionals to share and exchange the latest information on some of the aspects related to usage of next generation helicopter and systems in India, which will be of immense benefit to the industry. We also welcome our guest speakers from India and abroad and thank them for agreeing to share their knowledge and expertise with us. We are indeed honoured to have with us number of distinguished delegates from the military and para military service, central and state government and stakeholders of the industry.

The focus during the seminar will be on increasing roles played by military helicopters in combat support in future conflicts especially with emerging technologies. Its ability to operate at short notice from locations close to tactical area, with little or no infrastructure facilities and its ability to integrate with other arm is helping these assets to emerge as arm of the future.

Use of helicopters in armed forces now ranges from high to low intensity conflicts including counter terrorism. As nature of future wars and conflicts in the Indian continent will be short, swift and intense with deeper and wider combat zone, judicious use of helicopters specially attack helicopters can be crucial and decisive specially in its anti-armour and anti-ground forces role.

With the proposed induction of the next generation Attack helicopter such as Apache AH64, indigenously manufactured light combat helicopter, weaponised version of Dhruv-Rudra, medium heavy helicopter such as Chinooks & Mi 17V, Light Observation Helicopter like Kamov

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226T and sea borne helicopters with mission oriented platforms, Indian Armed Forces will have some of the finest tools of war it has ever had in respect of Rotary Wing aviation.

For usage of these airborne platforms we must develop sound doctrines with organizations capable of performing required missions.

Helicopters being maintenance intensive to meet requirement for maintenance and product support at various formation levels during hostilities would require the development of infrastructure for first line, second line and repair activities and associated product support.

The scope of such deliberation could be very vast indeed. Besides well thought of doctrines we need to have in place defined command and control structure during hostilities and effective communication between helicopter and defined command control centre.

For the crew to exploit the increased complexity of the next generation machines we need to have well thought out comprehensive training programme to ensure crew achieve high degree of proficiency in operating available target acquisition designation and weapon delivery systems. Yesterday I was looking at Youtube when I found latest induction into the Air Force Apache 864. According to the website it is going to cost $20 million and it was saying that presently it takes any helicopter pilot 18-24 months to be trained as fully competent operational pilot.

What it brings home is today’s technology is far far different that what we were inducted 53 years back. When we got into those kind of machines it just took us about 6 months to become fully operational pilot. But now according to the website it will take that much time because it is fitted with such sophisticated system. It will require quantum change in the mindset to be familiarize to handle these weapon system.

After the keynote address on Combat Potential of Future and Vertical Lift Technology & we are going to have next generation power plants which is primary source of energy for driving the helicopter. We have General Electric representative Sanjeev Kakkar. We have Director Engineering & R&D HAL who is going to talk about what is going on in HAL in making the next generation helicopters. After their presentations we are going to have views of the three service people on the usage of next generation helicopters.

First technical session will focus on Combat Potentials of LCH and Rudra and Trends in Heavy Lift Technology by Experts. In the second Technical Session the focus is going to be on next generation systems including those related to indigenous design Development helicopters as well as futuristic technologies. In post lunch session on next generation technologies we have Mahindras and Air Bus who will talk to you about how they are going to make next generation helicopters in India then we have future technologies in respect of controlling vibrations which is a major bugbear in helicopters. At the end of the session there will be talk on hybrid batteries which is going to power the helicopters. We have scientist form Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru for that.

On behalf of members of RWSI, I wish to thank the participants for sparing their valuable time to participate in the event. We are also grateful to the sponsors for helping us organize the event. I am thankful to the panelists including Vice Chief of Air Staff for sparing his valuable time to be part in this event.

Thank you. ***

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Next Gen Vertical Lift Technology (VLT)

by Mr. Alan C Ewing, Senior Manager, International Military Business Development, Bell Helicopter Textron I will lead you through little bit of tilt rotor history and its relationship to the Joint Multi Role (JMR) programme and Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme being conducted currently.

The first tilt rotor that Bell was involved with was the XV-3. Its first flight was in 1956. This was followed by XV15 in 1977, V-22 in 1989, the 609 civil tilt rotor in 2002. Currently we have first operational tilt rotor aircraft in service, the V-22 built jointly between Bell and Boeing. The Joint Multirole programme leading to the Future Vertical Lift programme is the next evolution of tilt rotor. Aircraft design considerations, to me, are somewhat circular, starting with requirements. We then pick configuration, add technology, evaluate manufacturing and take cost into consideration. The Joint Multirole programme started off in 2008 as a series of requirements analysis using conceptual aircraft designs. These were industry designs that we produced, analysed and submitted to the US government as part of this circle, so that from various configurations they could determine how valid and viable the requirements were.

This shows the configuration trades and analysis phase that took place from FY 2011-13; for industry that was about 18 months, and was preceded by two earlier, much more informal phases conducted with relatively small industry involvement. The output of the configuration trades and analysis was a Phase I specification. This Phase I specification spelled out the requirements that would lead to the next phase, or Phase I air vehicle development. In performing the configuration trades and analysis, here is a matrix of excursions for various design points evaluating just how large and costly an aircraft would be that would meet this set of requirements. The US Army did something very intelligent, and that is they varied a number of different parameters to evaluate what would be the effect on the size of these aircraft.

In this matrix, the mission radius stays constant at 424 kilometers, which is the desired radius but they vary the troop carrying capacity and some of the other criteria for loads and payloads.

The largest configuration was up to 24 troops which is the current capacity of V-22. They wanted to see what those requirements would result in, what type of configuration and what type of technologies would be available to change the current state of the art.

From the CTA phase they moved into JMR TD Phase I, and here we have a tilt rotor we call V-280. It has two flavours: one, a model performance spec aircraft intended to meet all the requirements of the Phase I specification with embedded technology in it, to meet the requirements of 4 crew, 12 troops, 424 km radius and a mid-mission hover at 6000 ft, with a minimum

of 230 Knots cruise speed. With these requirements, we can be forgiven in the Bell Boeing team for having looked at tilt rotors throughout the entire configuration and trade analysis. In designing the V-280 model performance spec aircraft, the next step was to make a demonstrator we call air vehicle concept demonstrator and that took us to the question - can we prove that particular configuration, will it meet the requirements of the model performance specs and have geometric characteristics necessary to be an effective aircraft?

We then look to technology. It looks to be next on the circle, right after configuration; but these days, cost is just as significant a security threat as an enemy is. If you do not have sufficient resources to procure the numbers and operate these aircraft, then the security that you expect to get from purchasing that aircraft will not be as large as it should be. We are taking opportunity to look at technology and manufacturing cost. Once the requirement is fixed, we have an overriding focus on cost as a technology choice in our configuration and how we manufacture the aircraft. We will give you one example of cascading effect of one particular configuration and technology choice on cost. The V-280 configuration has a fixed engine, which means that the engine itself, unlike the V-22, does not rotate - only the proprotors do. We accomplish that with what we call a pylon over wing. The pylon is set on top of the wing as opposed to on the wingtip, and that allows rotation point of the proprotor to be moved further forward ahead of the wing. It seems like a fairly simple configuration and technology choice, but what does it allows us to do? The increased separation of the rotor plane in airplane mode, increases the distance between the leading edge of the rotor and flapping range of that rotor as it flaps back towards the wing.

Because we have that increased distance, we no longer need to have forward sweep. So the 6 degrees of forward sweep that we traditionally put into tilt rotors can now be a straight leading edge.

The fixed engine configuration, since it does not tilt, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to worry about ground clearance from the bottom of the nacelle to the ground. That also allows us to eliminate the dihedral or the upper tilt of the traditional tilt rotor wing. The lack of those compound angles, the combination of sweep and a dihedral plus the design of the gear train of this tilt rotor allows the elimination of the mid wing gear box. What those do now is allow us to introduce manufacturing methods that reduce the cost. In fact, the wing is a single piece composite technology wing. There are no breaks in it, very much like V 22, except again we are using no sweep and no dihedral. There are new materials that we have introduced in this composite process, they have very high stiffness to weight ratios, something we call large cell carbon core. So the wings themselves are actually a sandwich construction and they are integrally stiffened. Once we do that, it allows a very strong, very light weight wing and it also allows us to introduce higher aspect ratio wing. So for a given wing area that we design, we can have a much wider span and more slender wing and still have acceptable aeroelastic capabilities. That higher aspect ratio gives us that greater span, which allows us to have larger rotor diameters than we would ordinarily. That larger rotor diameter gives us less disk loading in hover and hence lower downwash operationally. The lower disk loading itself, in terms of cost, allows

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> us to introduce an engine of much lower power output. Advance composites technology also gives us a new hub design, instead of manufacturing in the traditional manner, and that reduces the cycle time and increases the first time yield in the manufacturing process. All of these result in significant cost savings.

aircraft and put that particular platform in the US government service. Joint Multirole is the predecessor phase and serves as a risk reduction effort for future vertical lift, and there are series of future vertical lift aircraft. US alters these from time to time but they call them Capability Sets.

We have new blade materials. We have changed our traditional rotor blade design. By careful attention to its design, instead of using a hand layer process, we can now manufacture that particular blade using an automated cell.

The V-280 that I have described and the technology associated with it is going against capabilities set number 3 which is the medium class. Some of these requirements are taken from most recent US government request for information. Capability Set 1 has a request for information, and Capability Set 3 does as well. Capability Set 3 falls very clearly into the medium class â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a minimum of 230 knots up to 310 Knots. A radius of at least 229 nautical miles up to 450 nautical miles, at least 12 troops or 6 litters, and a payload of 3500 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 4000 pounds would accommodate those 12 troops and their equipment, and an external payload of between 6000-8000 pounds. With that capability set, there is a hope that with right configuration and right technology, we could incorporate commonality much like Joint Strike Fighter does in the F-35A, B and C versions. Those RFIs form an important basis in the US acquisition development time line and those RFIs to industry that will result in inputs to an analysis of alternatives.

You can see it fairly early in the analysis of alternatives timeline.

In fact, it takes place even before the first flight of the aircraft occurs. So the analysis of alternatives would hopefully lead to programme of record leading to production in the late 2020s or early 2030s time frame.

The composite fuselage was different from V-22. Since it was for the US Army and it prefers very large sliding doors that facilitate quick exit time of troops in combat zone, the use of advanced composite fuselage design allowed us to integrate them into the design and still have acceptable structural stiffness and aeroelastic stability criteria. All of those composite materials are pervasive throughout the design, and permit us to remove cost and labour out of the manufacturing of this aircraft. Some additional technology insertions are in there, not so much directly related to cost as they are to the operational characteristics that make it suitable as next generation aircraft. The V-22 is a fly by wire aircraft, and we have taken that design to next generation. So this aircraft is also fly by wire which also allows two additional items - low speed manoeuvrability in combination with rotor design (the new hub and the blades themselves), and also high speed handling qualities. The cruising speed of V-280 is 280 knots at less than 90% continuous power (for this reason 280 is in the designation of this aircraft and that is internal company designation). We would expect that should this become programme of record, the US military will change the designation to something more traditional.

We have spent lot of time in designing high technology gear boxes, introducing new materials and gear processes so that we have high power to weight ratio of gear boxes that take weight out of the aircraft. Every pound of empty weight that we introduce in the aircraft results anywhere from 2.0 to 2.5 pounds of design gross weight. The lower the weight, the lower the cost. Because our desire is to be less complex, we introduce a new vehicle management system architecture and designed a brand new actuation system for the swash plates associated with proprotors.

This technology of this aircraft builds on thousands of successful combat hours and real time operational experience with the V22. We wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be where we are today without that aircraft.

The air vehicle concept demonstrator is taking shape at our facility in Amarillo, Texas. Behind it, the V-22 is also manufactured in the same facility. All these interesting configurations, requirement analysis, and technology is leading us to our next first flight. We started this effort, we wrote the proposal back in 2013 and hope to have our first flight in Sept 2017. From the time that we wrote proposal to the time we fly it will be little less than 5 years.

I talked to you little bit about Future Vertical Lift. I want to give some linkage between what we are doing in Joint Multirole, first the requirement analysis and then this demonstration phase.

JMR is a science and technology effort and that generally precedes a programme of record. Programme of record means acquire an

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We hope to accomplish this technology phase, Phase I, and we would provide sufficient technology maturation that we can scale all of those across all of these classes of aircraft, Capability Sets 1 through 5. V-280 could possibly accommodate Capability Sets 2 and 3. V-22 currently fills Capability Set 3+ very nicely.

Conceptually, we have looked at heavy and ultra heavy class of tiltrotors also. We look forward to fly V-280 to validate this technology and our configuration choices by 2017. ***

Major General Kanwal Kumar, ADG, Army Aviation You are all aware that army aviation is an integral part of the combined armed team which provides combat support and service support, capabilities across the full spectrum of operations to the field commanders of the Indian army. As you are aware the helicopters by the inherent versatility manoeuvre advantage and the effectiveness in the battlefield, they influence battle in all dimensions. With the fielding of attack helicopters in army aviation and other advance helicopters in the horizon, army aviation will posses one of the finest tools available with us. The challenge for the ground

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forces is to be able to adopt all these technology that is going to be available in the near future.

While you are aware of the attributes of the helicopter as such but before we move forward I must tell you what kind of terrain are we operating upon. This is the only country where we are operating from the deserts to the plains, upto high altitudes and super high altitudes which means the machines are required to operate form -40 to +50degree C. It is heavy toll on man and machine as also a challenge for the manufacturers to manufacture machines which can meet this kind of variety of task. Therefore terrain as such restricts the platform, the choice of platform and choice of system that is required to be operating. Add to this requirements is also the requirement of operating 24x7 across the full spectrum. Since we are the manoeuvre arm of the ground forces therefore we have set vision for ourselves to be able to provide integral reconnaissance, surveillance, combat lift and combat fire capability for the field force commanders across this entire spectrum. This capability also extends to the ground force commander in the third dimension. The operations of this kind throw up challenges of technical and doctrinal kind. Therefore full scale operations will dictate bias for consultation of employment of helicopters and CIAT Ops or four dimension warfare will dictate that helicopters operate as detachment. Therefore there has to be a compatibility of the ground forces operations and helicopter operations. To achieve this army aviation has to posses capability to operate in the combined arms team concept to maintain the legitimate requirements of the forces.

The rapid operationalisation of army aviation keeping pace with the ongoing modernisation and the capability development also means that the helicopter profile of the army aviation is set for big change which includes the light operation helicopters, utility helicopters, fighter capability and also graduating upto 1012 ton capability class as also the combat helicopters which covers ALH WSI, LCH and Attack helicopters. The present fleet of Cheetah Chetak will be replaced by the state of the art helicopter which will be capable of operating 24x7. As the LAH has given major boost for the operations to the Indian army by increasing the tactical lift capability has been increased drastically and this will get further enhanced with the induction of TVSHS. Light helicopter employed primarily for reconnaissance, observation do not have the survivability built into them.

Additionally they are required to stay in the air for long. Also the requirement of remaining low and yet be able to observe and fulfil surveillance requirement is a challenge. and then this requirement gets enhanced with 24x7 operations. Thus it remains a major challenge as far as the light helicopters are concerned.

Similarly the utility helicoptersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; capability gets severely restricted either by temperature or altitudes or often by both. Thus equipping the helicopter to ensure and enhance the survivability or retain the capability to lift loads in tactical configuration poses the greatest challenge. And in order to drop men and equipment, the utility helicopters are expected to carry out landing operations to include hover OGE / IGE in such difficult circumstances. Such flight profile in the TBA makes it vulnerable to the enemy action besides posing technical challenge of landing over unprepared

areas.

With the induction of combat helicopters, the challenge for the army aviation will be to capitalise on quality equipment.

The successful employment of army aviation for sustained operations will require solid technical and logistical support. An ideal helicopter to undertake operations in the challenging environment must be agile, manoeuvrable and must have great endurance and range and should be loaded with latest sensors to increase the survivability in the TBA and should also be able to capture and engage multiple targets at the same time. In the network centric TBA the future platform must have the capability to acquire, handover and accept targets from multiple sources i.e either from the fixed wing aircrafts or from helicopters or from UAVs and should be able to pass on the same information as gathered by the helicopter to other flying machines or to the ground forces.

We also need a dynamic and multimode transportation system to ensure timely collection and delivery of spares along with a modern inventory system both by the services and the OEM to ensure that we have predictive and responsive logistic support.

Therefore continuous and well thought out upgrades will help equipment to remain relevant and adapt to the changes of technology for a long period of 30-40 years.

The next important part is the training. While in-house training is- what steps we have already taken, the development of simulators will be the order of the day to ensure that training is continuous and uninterrupted.

I would like to touch upon expectations from the helicopter industry towards developing the next gen helicopter and systems.

We all are aware that government is implementing the policy of Make in India which has also coincided along with the long desired need of replacement of helicopters for the services. As also the requirement of helicopters for civil industry. This is an opportunity for private sector to get into the field of production of helicopters, MRO and training. As it is the helicopter industry within the country has remained by and large import oriented while we agree that imports cannot be wished away overnight however they do impose severe financial and time penalties. We are aware of the peculiarities and challenges both in production as well as retrofitting of equipment or helicopters therefore identification of key technology in the field of armament, sensors, simulators, avionics etc and creating the right atmosphere to iron out the policies for R&D and development will assist in the capacity building of country as also for the services as such.

I have tried to put across the perspective of the army aviationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preparedness for absorbing or taking on the challenges for absorbing new technologies, being the youngest arm of the Indian army and assure all that we are ready to absorb the same. ***

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Mr. Sanjeev Kakkar, Director Business Development, Military System Operations, GE Aviation My talk is on the next generation turbo shaft and turbo prop engines.

Over 5 decades GE has powered the world’s medium and heavy helicopter fleets logging over 16 million hours.

These engines have operated in extreme environment and play the major role in peace time and war time situation worldwide. GE’s philosophy and engine development has been to incorporate developed and proven technologies in its products. Until the technology is fully developed and certified it remains science and technology programme. This lowers the development risk and we are able to get our products out to our customers on schedule.

These technologies are incorporated and existing and new products with significant operational experience in the field of commercial and military engines. We basically take a common core which is compressor and turbine. We take electronic engine controls that are used both on commercial and military aircraft and also small engine architecture that we currently have one T 700 CT 7 engine.

The base programme for GE in the turbo shaft and turbo prop application has been the T 700, CT7 engine. The T 700 engine is for military application and CT 7 is for commercial applications. Over 35 years GE has been incorporating new technologies, maintaining the same dimensional footprint on the engine leading to an increase in shaft horse power from 1500 to 3000 and improving the durability of the engine by 3X. Currently CT7 8 C is 3000 shaft HP engine that is going under certification.

Components incorporated new engine programmes have to be designed for ease of manufacturing, within the schedule and cost profile anticipated in the programme. When you develop an engine you need to make sure that you can manufacture it as well.

Manufacturing teams are involved from the development stage itself. New technologies which are currently in our products including Ceramic Matrix Composite - CMC. We use these significantly in our commercial engine programmes, incorporating them in our military programme as well. CMCs have 20% better thermal capability two times more strength than Nickel alloys and 1/3 the weight of current components.

Currently GE has over 11800 aircraft engines in operation.

Majority of them being T700 /CT7 engine family. Our approach on future development is focused on three areas, T700 upgrades, new products and future programmes. It really boils down to what we can do currently that is in the operation which has life time of 40-50 years of service, new products for new applications as well as future science and technology programmes. New product

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development is that we are currently working on T400 GE 400 engine. This engine currently powers Sikorsky 53K heavy lift helicopter which is currently under testing. It varied at 7500 shaft HP two engines powering the 53K provide the capability of lift 12MT of load.

We look at three approaches - how do I get better SFC, How can I reduce the part count and improve the life cycle cost of the engine and also what can I do to have a longer uptime on the way.

We have incorporated many technologies again in both our commercial and military engines. We are going to incorporate prognostic and health management system which is for the first time we are going to do, for helicopter application.

Current science and technology programme being undertaken by GE is Advance Affordable Turbine Engine - AATE. This 3000 shaft HP engine has been designated for the Improved Turbine Engine programme and will succeed the T700 engine for the Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. This programme leverages decades of operational experience and integrates advance technology to provide 25% better fuel economy 35% lower acquisition and maintenance cost and 20% longer life and 65% more power to weight ratio compared to the current T700. Time schedule for launch of its production is 2023. As representative of Bell indicated we are also working on science and technology programme under the Future Affordable Turbine Engine - FATE and this is meant for JMR FVR - Future Vertical Lift technology that is being pursued by the US government. This 5000-10000 shaft HP engine incorporates technology to provide 35% better fuel economy, 45% lower acquisition cost and better power to weight management. The application will be for future turbo prop and turbo shaft application. You can clearly see that the focus is not looking at only thrust, it is looking at economy in terms of acquisition cost as well as better fuel efficiency so you get longer range.

Shifting gears - we are also involved in the turbo prop side.

GE’s Advanced Technology engine for commercial application represents accumulation of 5 years of market research. This is the first clean sheet design turbo prop engine in last 50 years.

This all new engine brings advanced proven GE engine technology into small engines and is expected to revolutionise business in general aviation turbo prop market. Our first application is on the Textron single engine aircraft.

In conclusion I hope you will be able to appreciate new development programmes being pursued by GE. Our development process starts with customer, end user, the three services - defining performance, cost and maintenance requirement. We then look at our existing proven technology and design the engine. This reduces the development risk of the programme so that we can meet schedules. Working closely with manufacturing teams we focus on producing an engine that needs timelines providing you ’the air warrior’ a product that meets your mission requirements.

Thank you. ***

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Naval Perspective on the Next Generation of Helicopters by Commodore Himanshu S Sapre, Principal Director Aircraft Acquisition, Naval HQs Cmdr Himanshu Sapre covered the subject under the following heads : • Operational Role - Naval Helicopters; • Challenges; • Future Projects & Prospects; • Way Ahead Operational role of Indian Navy: the Indian Navy being an important instrument of Maritime Policy is required to operate as multidimensional force, capable of countering the full range of security challenges across the entire spectrum of conflict in maritime domain. The next generation helicopters therefore would be required to undertake missions ranging from low intensity maritime operations to full fledge conflict. The helicopter is best suited to sanitize an area in close proximity of the field. Using dunking sonar helicopter is the ideal platform to carry out self attack by integral weapons as it is impervious to any counter attack. However the future submarines are going to be quieter equipped with air independent propulsion and with the ability to dive deeper. This would require helicopter to be equipped with advanced sensors. These sensors would involve capability of low frequency dunking sonar which can be lowered to a depth of about 750 meters. Such sonars would be capable of detection of deep diving submarines which tend to take advantage of the low layer hydrology. In terms of coastal security, at any given time, about 4,000 to 5,000 merchant vessels are present in our water and more than 1000 large coastal vessels and numerous registered and unregistered fishing vessels. The helicopter would now require Surveillance RADAR integrated with Automatic Identification System receivers which would sift through numerous coastal vessels plying the area and identify them. In terms of Air early warning operation the Indian navy relies on Kamov 31 helicopter for AEW cover and despite certain limitations which exist in terms of endurance and number of operators, its early warning radar coupled with Datalink enables infrastructure exchange of all surface and airborne contacts to the entire fleet, thus giving adequate early earning of an impending attack. The Kamov 31 and MiG29 k is lethal combination that IN now posses for its fleet air defence.

With the advent of long range weapons on board ships the Navy today is capable of undertaking targeting of enemy ships at extended ranges using advance radars and datalink capabilities.

The traditional roles of search and rescue at sea, Utility task, casualty evacuation and logistics support and communication duties would continue as hitherto.

Challenges and the unique requirement of naval helicopters: They require engines that are more efficient at sea level and the airframe which would have floating characteristics. They need to have wheeled undercarriage to withstand high rates of descend for recovery on board a ship. It would also require Deck Lock System as well as Blade Folding Capability so that it could be housed well in the

ship’s hanger.

The second challenge is in terms of maintenance of these complex helicopters. It is our endeavour to ensure that we have commonality of equipment despite the mix of western and eastern origin helicopters.

Off late the challenge in terms of maintenance of legacy systems, obsolescence and its management by both- the manufacturer as well as the maintainer which is being faced jointly in the era of high end and ever evolving technology is the largest challenge that the maintenance personnel face. Finally in an era of financial prudence innovation is must. It is desirable that the Navy learns to innovate to tide over existing deficiencies.

Future projects and prospects: The Navy is in the process of inducting ALH Mark 3 helicopters towards coastal security task. The multirole helicopters of the Indian Navy, this particular programme has been progressed to give the much required fillip to the ASW capability and enhance its three dimensional capability. The Naval utility helicopter which has generated enough interest in the industry would be replacing the Chetak helicopters and would be acquired in quantities in access of 100. These would be capable of undertaking SAR, HADR, anti piracy and anti terrorism operations and would also have limited maritime surveillance and targeting capability. These helicopters have been planned to be realised through buy and make in India route.

The Naval multirole helicopter: The Navy plans are to procure more than 100 of these helicopters in two variants that is anti submarine warfare variant and special Ops variant. This project would be taken up based on the lessons that have been learnt in the acquisition process of utility helicopters. As an interim measure the older helicopters are planned for upgradation of capabilities with contemporary technologies.

The Way ahead: towards these acquisitions and upgrades IN intends to progress through industry support and indigenous capability. Self reliance is vital for country from both strategic and economic terms. In order to synergise & enhance national capabilities and producing state of the art systems and equipment all viable approaches such as formation of consortia, Joint Ventures, public private partnership are necessary.

The Indian Navy has always been the frontrunner in indigenisation and stands firmly committed to promote ’Make in India’ initiative. It is heartening to see great enthusiasm amongst Indian private industry to participate in aircraft manufacturing. To site an example more than 5 Indian companies have responded to the RFI for naval utility helicopter and similarly more than 10 for supporting the UAV programme that the IN intends.

The Naval aviation specially its helicopter fleet which is poised for unprecedented growth in the next few years would require the platforms which would have contemporary and cutting edge technologies. It is therefore incumbent to induct the latest and best platforms and the impetus by the government on ’Make in India’ needs to be realised. It is hoped that our aviation industry would lay the foundation for robust aviation industry in the country. There are always challenges when one inducts new platforms and technology but with planning and foresight on our part this transition would be seamless.

Naval aviation is set to grow exponentially in the future and fulfilling the navy’s motto of maritime power for national prosperity. ***

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The HAL perspective on helicopters presently in progress and what they view to be happening in the years to come in the Indian scenario by Mr. D K Venkatesh, Director (Engineering and R&D) HAL Mr. D K Venkatesh, Director (Engineering and R&D) HAL, commenced his talk with a brief history of HAL which was founded in 1940, as a private limited company by Late Seth Walchand Hirachand in association with government of Mysore. There was another company for manufacturing of MiG21 formed Aeronautics India ltd and both were amalgamated in 1964 which became Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). For 75 years HAL has been in existence and has had fixed wing development happening from 1950 and rotary wing from 1985. There are close to 4000 aircrafts and helicopters and close to 5000 engines manufactured by the HAL. They have mix of indigenous design (15 types of aircraft and helicopters) and 14 types Under Licence. However, not much progress on engine side. But they have given impetus - off late.

They have 2 programmes running in the company - one for turbo jet engine and one for turbo shaft engine, 25 kilo Newton turbo jet and 1200 turbo shaft engine.

HAL is a vertically integrated Company making aircraft, equipments, accessories, ground support equipment, helicopters, engines all of them. HAL has been a Navratna company since 2007, has over 30,000 employees, 20 production facilities, 10 R&D centres and is an ISO 9001 certified company with a turnover of 2.6 billion and exporting to 20 countries.

Hal’s core business being fixed and rotary wing aircraft design & development, production, maintenance, repair & overhauls, upgrades life cycle support. They also have facility for satellite manufacture support in support of the programme of satellites launched from this country.

With a big infrastructure for design and development and they use complete TLM and life cycle structure for configuration management and change management and upgrade these tools continuously so that they are able to support their customer in life cycle management. HAL has intensive manufacturing facility for prototypes and production helicopters with Gleason gear cutting, grinding, CNC, EMCO and gear manufacturing cell.

HAL has extensive units exclusively for composite manufacturer with autoclaves, prepreg cutting machine, roving impregnating machine, filament winding machine, blade moulding & curing with complete set of test facilities that would go with it; structural assembly and equipping & final assembly and extensive ground test and flight test facilities. Main rotor whirl tower test, Tail rotor whirl tower, landing gear drop test, main rotor hub testing, blade fatigue testing, shake test, rain water test, multipurpose test for gear boxes, hydraulic pump test, integration

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laboratory, telemetry station and mobile telemetry for outside operations.

They also render MRO services for the complete fleet of aircraft manufactured by us. And have good eco system of vendors developed for manufacturing and are looking forward for further support from vendors and were even ready to handover the complete ALH package for manufacturing to the private vendors.

The indigenous helicopters manufacturing started with ALH programme and the success of it resulted in the combat helicopter programme followed by Light Utility Helicopter programme. The ALH Dhruv had definition of twin engine with gearbox with approx 5 ton weight; and the helicopter that came out has 640 km range, +3.5g /-.5g tolerance, 138 Knots speed with endurance of close to 4 hours with seating capacity of 2+14 in the troop seating arrangement. The helicopter is designed to Def Standard FAR 29 standard MIL Specs and with all specific users’ requirements incorporated therein. It operates at high altitudes (over 20,000 ft), extreme cold / hot weather conditions, saline atmospheres and off shore environment and has two versions -Skid and wheel.

Utility, civil and weapon all have been covered on this. The technology used are integrated dynamic system with upper controls built into the gear box, hingeless main rotor, 6 degree of freedom ARIS, digital fly by wire ASCS system - a glass cockpit, extensive use of compasses, crashworthy seats with FADEC engine. Mark I was originally conventional cockpit followed by Mark II with Integrated cockpit, glass cockpit followed by higher power. Shakti engine was incorporated in Mark II with sensors for laser warning radar warning and missile approach warning and Mark IV weaponised with guns, missiles and rockets.

Civil Version of ALH has been designed, developed & certified

by DGCA and is in operation with few civil customers including BSF. There is also a geological survey version that has been handed over to the customer. The Mark IV weaponised version has datalink capability, helmet pointing system with night vision, air to ground missile which is planned to be integrated. And also air to air missile, rocket pod, EO Pod Flip capability and Turret gun.

India is one of the few countries t that have designed helicopters and have an aerobatic team (The Indian Air Force team that has participated globally). This helicopter has proved itself repeatedly in humanitarian assistance in relief operations including the recent earthquake in Nepal last year and the floods in J&K and Uttarakhand and it has close to 1.5 lakh flying hours already.

The next generation helicopters presently being made in at HAL are ’The Light Combat helicopter’, ’The Light Utility Helicopter’ and a few other programmes. The Light Combat Helicopter has finished its basic flying evaluation and is under weaponisation having already integrated all weapons, and having demonstrated rocket firing recently. Weapons commonality with ALH (Rudra) has been retained. It’s a sleek fuselage with Tandem seating and combat capability with stealth features, Anti-armour capability, operation during Day / Night, crashworthy fuselage bottom floor structure, reduced radar signature, IR suppression system and Directional control through push pull cable. These are weapons and sensors that have gone into the aircraft. The capability has been demonstrated at beyond 40 degree C at high altitudes typically the toughest condition that could be experienced by helicopter and AUW capability of 5800 kgs. The aircraft can carry all its weapon and sufficient fuel for operations at high altitudes.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> The Light Utility helicopter of 3 Ton class, Single engine with dual channel FADEC, composite Blades, Advanced avionics, Blade folding arrangement, 3 Axis AFCS, 4 bladed arrangement, bearingless tail rotor, hingeless main rotor, Sun planetary gear for the gear box, Skid landing gear with wheel version in future, night flying capabilities. The ground test vehicle is almost completing its evaluation, the prototype is also ready and the helicopter is expected to be seen in the sky very soon.

The next programmes being looked forward to in years to come are intermediate multirole helicopter somewhere in 10-15 ton class. HAL is now looking for partners for co development arrangement. The targeted time line is to start this year and finish the programme by 2021-22.

In addition the HAL has also entered the Rotary Unmanned segment with a simple 10 kg class unmanned vehicle with autonomous capability and control. Its capability was demonstrated and now the next stages are of 200-500 and 1000 kgs in years to come. Apart from this existing platforms conversion to unmanned is another programme that HAL would be stepping into very soon.

The further areas to be addressed would be the retreating blade.. compressive ..effects, control margin and engine and transmission.

Next looking at how helicopters presently are globally, the tail rotor is the concept that has already come in and propellers on the wings with no tail rotor is also another thing that has come in and Co-axial contra rotating with ducted prop in the tail as the way forward in the future which probably will give speeds in access of 300 Knots.

The the talk was summed up with the conclusion that over the last 3 decades, HAL has evolved from a license manufacturer to a leading indigenous developer of Helicopters. The ALH project has provided an opportunity to establish an eco system for indigenous development & manufacturing of Helicopters. With the capability for design of helicopters the strengths have come in, the tools are available. The infrastructure is in place. Knowledge base has been established particularly in the areas of Rotor Dynamics, Aero dynamics, System integration, Testing, certification and project management. This would definitely result in more new types of helicopters to be coming out of the stables of HAL in years to come for self-reliance and "Make in India". ***

Concluding Remarks by the Chief Guest - Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa AVSM YSM VM, Vice Chief of Air Staff The Air Marshal called it his proud privilege to give the concluding remarks of the Inaugural session where there were two sets of talks. First, the technology in next generation engines, technology in vertical lift, technology in Make in India through HAL and the Navy and the Army presented what do they need to operate Rotary Wing aircraft in their respective services in the future.

He personally thanked the Rotary

Wing Society of India for carrying out the stellar role in which they are able to get all rotary wing professionals across the country onto one platform so that the participants can discuss what do they need and how do they go in the future and what is the future of rotary wing flying. The Indian Air Force had started in 1954 with Sikorsky S55 helicopters and it is now spread to all three services and the coast guard.

In the last two decades number of helicopters in the civil aviation also has multiplied manifolds and nowhere in the world helicopters fly under such diverse conditions as in India. He personally holds the rotary wing pilots in utmost respect specially during the Kargil conflict when he found them attacking the same targets as the fighters with very little protection and most importantly no ejection seat. The last decade a large scale induction of Mi17 V5 helicopters capable of day and night bad weather operation in Indian air force there has been a substantial jump in vertical lift capability and this will increase even further once the Chinook is inducted. Having seen in the exercise Iron-fist our capability to engage targets at night with rotary wing has enhanced significantly. This would enhance even further with the induction of the Apache and light combat helicopters.

In the field of disaster relief the IAF helicopters have played a significant role in operation ’Make Rahat’ in Kashmir, ’Maitri’ in Nepal in addition to aid to civil power that is being carried out in operation ’Triveni’. In ’Make Rahat’ helicopters of Indian Air Force were the first responders to the destruction caused by the floods in J&K. 73 helicopters were involved in major part of operations. Magnitude of the operation can be gauged by the fact that Indian Air Force flew 1876 missions,, evacuated 19700 civilians and lifted 730 tons of relief supplies. This extraordinary and prompt response has already been recorded as largest relief operation ever. In the operation ’Maitri’ in Nepal Indian Air Force helicopters responded with alacrity and were first on the scene.

During operations more than 25 medium lift helicopters were employed which involved flying of 1572 sorties, 741 hours, evacuated 5188 victims, 780 causalities, inducted 1488 troops and flew in 733 tons of relief and rehabilitation material into remote corners of Nepal.

Operation Triveni which is on going in the anti Naxal operation with the ministry of Home Affairs is now in its 6th year. During this operation the Indian Air Force has already flown 9785 hours with more than 13000 sorties, lifted 66000 passengers, 589 causalities and 1385 tons of load.

In the recent past there has been significant increase in the capability of the Indian Air Force to carry out evacuation at night in operation Triveni and this is going to enhance further as new and better technology is inducted for its helicopters.

He recalled his training days when Air Marshall Garud N Chakradhar had made a very famous statement which is imprinted in his mind till date; he had said "mountain, helicopter and clouds all three of them are never together. If you have mountain and cloud there is no helicopter inside, if you have helicopter and mountain there is no cloud". It is a time he said for us that we need to move further and don’t carry out our air maintenance in the same manner it was done in the 1980s. 2-3 major changes have taken place. In the navigation system we have got much more robust and reliable navigation systems. The maps have improved and once the wide area augmentation system comes into place we

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

also have failure warnings and in areas where we have power available to climb above the route safety altitude we must be able to carry out terrain reference navigation and penetrate the weather and carry out air maintenance and whatever else we want to do specially in the mountains. Right now it is still weather dependent.

And as far as role of attack helicopter goes, the Indian Air Force has been constantly rethinking and redefining the role of the armed helicopter. The proliferation asymmetric non combinational sub conventional threats in our neighbourhood, in fact all over the globe has led to reevaluation for the conventional roles Air Force was initially tasking the attack and the armed helicopters. In this new role the combat helicopters are now tasked with the role of NTRPA, neutralising low flying slow moving aerial threats such as gliders and para gliders, precision flights against small sub conventional threats along with all the old operations of battlefield air strikes, battlefield air interdiction, low level radar busting, combat search and rescue, small team SF Insertion etc which has been amply demonstrated in the exercise Iron Fist conducted the previous Friday.

He further stated "We often try and put western templates on our environment which is not there. We are going to operate in any future conflict in a contested air space. We don’t have the technological asymmetry that the western powers have got in which they obliterate the enemy air opposition and then helicopters are free to operate. In our case we have to operate in contested air space. Apart from ground base threat air threat also looms very large. The rotary wing aircraft have to operate as a part of composite air package in a larger game plan. If you operate in isolation ’look down shoot down’ capability as modern fighters will act against the Rotary Wing aircraft and get it down. Indian Air Force recognised this capability in the early 90s when the helicopter combat leader course was started in which we realised that our helicopter pilots have to learn to operate and defeat this kind of threat. In isolation whether the helicopter or the UAV in a contested airspace you have to be part of large package".

And in the end he once again expressed his gratefulness to the Rotary Wing Society of India for the work it is doing and said, "We in Indian Air Force are very grateful to them that they engage all professionals on common platform and allow us to exchange ideas and it allows us to come here and listen to industry, listen to pioneers in the field and see what is coming in future and what path are we going to take for exploiting this wonderful platform that can go from anywhere and reach anywhere". ***

Vote of thanks by Gp Capt M K Labroo, Chairman Engg Committee RWSI Good Morning, Ladies and gentlemen: At the conclusion of today’s inaugural session it gives me great pleasure to convey the vote of thanks.

We are grateful to Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, AVSM, YSM, VM Vice Chief of Air Staff of

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Indian Air Force for being gracious in accepting our invitation to be the chief guest at today’s function. His address and concluding remarks have been thoroughly absorbing, thought provoking and very educative. He also lauded the role of three services during the past, recent past where they came up to the rescue missions caused by earthquakes, flood affected areas and also in our neighbouring countries like Nepal.

We would like to thank Air Vice Marshal K Sridharan VM (Gallantry), President RWSI for his welcome address and interesting keynote addresses by the following professionals respectively.

Mr Alan C Ewing, Senior Manager, International Military Business Development BELL Helicopter, spoke in depth on the next generation vertical lift technology and brought out the outcome of V22 tiltrotor research which was carried out in Hindon and also the use of advance composites in V280 tiltrotor for making the design cost effective and efficient.

Mr Sanjeev Kakkar, Director Business Development, Military System Operations, GE Aviation highlighted the GE development work on next generation propulsion for helicopters like Apache and Chinooks. We are very well aware of Six Sigma capability which has been achieved by GE long back. He also spoke about the huge power developed by T700 CT7 engine.

We are thankful to D K Venkatesh Director (Engineering & R&D) HAL who gave us glimpses of next generation helicopters in the making at the HAL including UAVs which are in the offing.

We are thankful to Cmdr Himansu Sapre of Naval headquarters clearly spelling out the Navy’s requirement for next generation helicopters possessing good speed, stealth, self protection, night vision goggle capabilities to execute the multirole missions desired by the Navy.

We are thankful to Major General Kanwal Kumar, ADG Army Aviation who provided us view from the Army Aviation where he spelt out the qualities like survivability, technical logistics and operational requirements of Army medium and light weight helicopters desired by the army.

We are thankful to the delegates from the Indian Amry, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, BSF, ARC, HAL, THL, Global Vectra Helicopter Ltd. Helicopter manufacturers, operators, rotary wing society corporate members, foreign delegates, students from IIT Delhi and Delhi Institute of Aeronautical Sciences for their active participation in the seminar. We would like to thank all our prime sponsors - Airbus, Bell Textron, GE Aviation, HAL, Boeing and our co sponsors Global Vectra Helicopters, SAB Group and Pawan Hans Helicopters who made it possible for us to hold this seminar with their kind contributory support. We also thank our supporters from the available product industry for their product participation.

We are grateful to Headquarters Indian Air Force for permitting us to use this auditorium and facilities to conduct this seminar safely and securely.

Thank you very much. ***

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Civil Day (22 March 2016)

<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Inaugural Session of Heli Power India-2016 (Civil) Heli Power India-2016 (Civil) was held on 22 March 2016 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi under the aegis of the Rotary Wing Society of India. The object of the Seminar is to provide a platform to helicopter operators, users, manufacturers, Govt. agencies and professionals to share and exchange the latest information on the usage of Helicopters in India and challenges faced by the Industry. The seminar on 22 Mar’2016 began with the inaugural session. It was indeed a proud moment for the President RWSI to welcome distinguished panelists Shri.Ashok Ganapathi Raju Pusapati Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation; Smt Satyavathi DG DGCA; Smt Usha Padhee Jt Secy Ministry of Civil Aviation; Dr. B.P. Sharma CMD PHL; Dr. GV Ramana Rao, Head EMRI GVK and Capt. Uday Gelli, CEO Heligo Charters Pvt. Ltd. After the traditional lighting of the lamp and release of the Seminar brochure, AVM K Sridharan, President RWSI delivered the welcome address. After welcoming the distinguished delegates, he gave a brief overview of the civil helicopter scene in India. He also highlighted some of the reasons which inhibited the utilization and growth of helicopters in India. He reminded the participants that the fleet strength of Civil Helicopters in India has declined from 277 in FY 2012-13 to 255 in Mar 2016. A number of Helicopter Operators have sold their helicopters as they were unable to sustain their cost of operations. The high rate of customs duty for import of helicopter and spares, high cost of operation of helicopter owing to cost high of aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges at airports and underutilization of the helicopter has resulted in pushing the cost of operations.

Added to it, the operators are facing operational, fiscal and Regulatory bottlenecks such as Lack of Infrastructure (at helipads/ heliports), high rentals charged or non-availability of infrastructural facilities at the airports and Regulatory constraints by ATC in routing etc. He said that it was unfortunate that even after 60 years of civil helicopter operating in India, only a very small percentage of total helicopter operations is devoted to ‘Aerial Application Roles” such as Hotline washing, Casualty Air Evacuation, Under-slung load ops, Electronic News gathering, Airborne Law Enforcement etc. Although these roles have great potential for usage but have not been found to be economically viable and hence there are no takers. He opined that the helicopter industry has a huge growth prospects provided certain steps are taken jointly by the concerned stake holders. Only way to Resurrect the ailing industry is to focus on implementing the Recommendations of the 169th Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Safety of Helicopter Operations in India as well as the Recommendations made by the Committee appointed by MOCA in Oct’ 2008.

Relevant details of the address are placed at page-37 The welcome address was followed by a keynote address by Dr. B P Sharma 34

Shri. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pasupati, Hon. Minister of Civil Aviation, GOI is seen lighing the lamp at the inaugural session of Heli Power India-2016 at Air Force Auditorium, Subrotopark, New Delhi.

CMD Pawan Hans Ltd on the sub regional connectivity by helicopters which form great need of the hour particularly in the remote and hostile areas of our country which are not even connected by roads.

Pawan Hans has spread their wings all over India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari on one side and Andaman Nicobar to Far East and doing yeoman service. In order to popularise the helicopter in the country they have started heli tourism also as an experimental way. Dr Sharma made great emphasis on the need of creating infrastructure avenues in terms of helipads/ heliports and also assured the participants that heliport which is being constructed in Rohini will be available for the utilisation by the helicopters in June 2016. He felt that this will also help other operators who are operating from IGI airport to move out and operate very comfortably.

Highlighting the importance given to regional connectivity in the New Aviation Policy brought out by MOCA recently, he said that it will be a game changer for civil aviation in the nation.

Talking about the anticipated growth of 600-800 helicopters by 2025, he mentioned that it will bring lot of challenges including availability of parking space. How are we going to fly them? How will the helicopter be used? He asked the Industry to focus on its availability for serving the public good of common man. Details of his address are placed at page-37.

Thereafter, Shri. Krishnam Raju, President GVK EMRI UP & Director GVK Emergency Management & Research Institute took the podium and gave us a glimpse of the “Lessons from GVK EMRI 108 for induction of HEMS concept”. After covering the historical background and the mechanism in which GVK EMRI 108 is functioning and he has also brought out the vital lessons learnt during the operations of GVK EMRI 108 that needs incorporation for the gainful utilization in launching lifesaving HEMS operations. He also highlighted viability of helicopters in saving lives during the golden hour. He stated that his organization responded to 25,000 emergencies each day and

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> 1/3rd of them were pregnancy related emergencies and about 12-14% were road traffic accidents and other non-vehicular trauma cases. Number of cardiac patients and respiratory problems were also increasing. Out of 25,000 emergencies, about 789 patients were very critical. He felt the need to use Golden Hour and ensure that the patients were at the right hospital so that the patient suitable treatment could be administered.

In spite of being spread in about 15 states and 2 Union Territories, his organization needed to do a lot of things including responding in time sensitive manner. For this, they have collaborated with Stanford School of Medicine to ensure that their processes were as per evidence based and contemporary in terms of science technology and services also. Relevant details of the address are placed at page-38.

The next item was Keynote Address on the Escalating Cost of Operations by Capt Uday Gelli, President, RWSI (Western Region).

Speaking about Challenges facing the Helicopter Industry, he highlighted three important factors including Regulatory Issues, infrastructure and financial constraints. He stated that Operators continue to face innumerable constraints when dealing with day to day operations. One of the main problems is the interpretation of existing rules and regulations. Due to language used and also due to certain grey areas in the rules, different officers of DGCA tend to interpret rules in different ways.

Many times, these rules are interpreted in a manner that obstructs efficient way of functioning. Citing another example, when the AME of an operator completes the training at the OEM’s facility and returns to India, it could take months before the person is orally tested for endorsement on the license. Sometimes, the DGCA officers insist that they should be sponsored by the operator to be sent for their own training at manufacturer’s facility before they conduct such oral exams. All such delays and demands cause huge delays and result into cost escalation of operations.

Related to Infrastructure issues, talking about JUHU airport, he said the facilities provided by AAI is abysmal and the rentals being charged are the highest in the country. In the last one year, AAI has increased the rentals in JUHU airport by a whopping 500% - how can an operator absorb such huge increase affected in such ad hoc manner? AAI has not improved the infra-structure at this airport over the last many decades despite collecting crores of rupees from operators. There is a need to upgrade this airport with more apron area for parking of helicopters, lighting for night operations to meet oil industry’s needs, prevent flooding of airport during monsoons etc.

Talking about the factors affecting the growth of helicopters in the country, he requested that DGCA, not only be the regulator but should also play a role as facilitator in keeping with the promise made by our Prime Minister that " Ease of doing business in India" is the need of the day. Details of his address are placed at page-40.

Parcipants at the event

Thereafter, Ms Usha Padhee IAS, Joint Secretary Civil Aviation addressed the distinguished gathering. She said that she was fortunate to have played a part in making the New Civil Aviation policy that may be the game changer for the sector in civil aviation sector.

She stated that while preparing the draft policy, she had understood how the competing demands from the industry, from the safety, from the finance, needed to be brought in together.

Talking about restrictions, she said that she was for reducing those restrictions and making it simpler, flying with much more facilitation. Many of the restrictions had been brought down. It is just a process which has begun. She was sure once we keep on negotiating and discussing with other stakeholders, lot of things would improve and many hindrances and impediments could be addressed.

Thereafter, Smt M Sathiyavathi IAS, DG, Directorate General of Civil Aviation addressed the participants.

After thanking the organizers for inviting her to participate in the Seminar, she said the topic for discussion was timely.

She was glad that DGCA had issued the HEMS CAR ahead of the industry and was thankful to all stakeholders for having given necessary inputs to DGCA for refining the CAR. She mentioned that as on date there were 280 helicopters registered in DGCA records and out of which 122 helicopters belonged to non-scheduled operators. 60 of non-scheduled operators have helicopters a fleet of 3 or less than three helicopters.

“There were no major players with big fleet of helicopters except like Pawan Hans, and Global Vectra. We need major players because with 1-2 helicopters it was going to be very viable for people to take up different operations because the regulatory requirements itself will put a huge burden on them. We need lot of major players so that this industry can grow.”

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> As far as safety is concerned, she said that it was unfortunate in the last year, there were four civil helicopter accidents in which 12 lives were lost. “There are areas where we need to concentrate to prevent accidents to civil helicopters such as giving due importance to Pilot’s training. As we do not have adequate number of simulators in the country, most of the training needs are met from outside the country which was a huge financial burden. But then it is a requirement and safety has to be the prime mover. She was keen to have the trainings done for Avn personnel on regular basis. If the industry has to pick up definitely a confidence needed to be developed in the common man and that could be done only when safety was given utmost importance. She was hopeful 2016 will be a great year for helicopters without any major accident.

Regarding connectivity to the Tier II and Tier III towns and places in the North Eastern Region and in Andaman Nicobar, Lakshadweep where helicopters were used as the main stay, she said the last mile connectivity could be achieved only if we increased the number of helipads for which there was lot of infrastructural gap. Till today DGCA had certified only one rooftop helipad. All the other helipads were with the State Governments and with other agencies. It was for the operator to ensure that it was fit for safe operations.

Speaking about the recent accident on the Bombay High region,she said that DGCA had to ban night operations. She was hopeful that the required SOPs would be put in place and the night operations resumed because it was absolutely necessary for evacuating any emergency which happened on the off shore areas.

She also sought the E&P Agencies to maintain the heli decks properly to ensure safety of offshore operations. Speaking about the operation of drones, she said that DGCA would be coming out with a circular soon on the operations of drone. Emphasizing the importance of helicopters In providing the last mile connectivity, she assured the Industry that the objectives of the Civil Aviation Policy related to the sector would be fulfilled.

Responding to the issues related to the functioning of DGCA, she said that she was genuinely concerned about the delays in clearances and will work to improve matters.

In this regard, she said that DGCA was working on automation in functioning of DGCA wherein they intended to put about 159 services completely online. They will receive all the applications and processed these online thereby reducing the delays and also instead of different directorates working in cells, all of them will be interlinked, Therefore the information from one directorate can easily flow into other directorate and DGCA will not need to be approaching the operators to keep on giving them papers. On the interpretation of Rules and Requirements, she said that there was a scope for refinement. Keeping in mind the safety, she was in favour of resolving the ambiguities in CARs and come out with clearer CARS and Rules so that junior most level officer feels confident of implementing these requirements properly. She assured that DGCA would be a Regulator but at the same time a will be a Facilitator so that the industry grew very faster. We can one never wish away a Regulator because ultimately without safety, the industry can never grow.• 36

Address by Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation, GOI Addressing the participants of the Inaugural Session of Heli Power India 2016 (Civil) International Seminar on 22 Mar 16 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi, Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation, GOI, stated that many of our institutions (public &private) had done us proud in certain ways and found wanting also in certain ways. Referring to Air India’s role in Yemen, he said that they did us proud by air evacuating large number of Indian citizens from Yemen along with foreign nationals (during military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies in Apr 15).

Outlining the tremendous potential helicopters possess in their usage in India, he felt operators like Pawan Hans and Global Vectra should rise to their potential and serve the Indian people. He welcomed Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) as it saved lives.

While acknowledging that the civil helicopter fleet in India and number of helicopter operators were very miniscule in comparison to other countries across the world, he felt that there was a lot of scope for expansion including its usage in regional connectivity specifically to remote population centers located in difficult terrains. He also felt that if helicopters had to take off the way they were expected, to a lot of work needed to be done in creating suitable infrastructure including MROs at many locations. He then referred to the development of one such facility at Rohini (near Delhi) and looked forward to development of more such facilities. Talking of Juhu Airport, he mentioned that there were a lot of ideas for its development. He felt that Mumbai being a premier city of India, needed more such facilities.

He sought the elements of the Industry to work together and get India into the slot which would do India proud in the filed of aviation. He said the new Aviation Policy was likely to make aviation more vibrant. He conceded that lot of systems needed to be streamlined in the Aviation Sector and the Ministry of Civil Aviation was looking forward to ideas to work on, including those ideas that would emerge from the deliberations at the Seminar.•

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Text of the Speeches delivered by Panelists at the Inaugural Session

Welcome Address by AVM K Sridharan (Retd.) VM (G), President RWSI It gives me great pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all the delegates at the 7th Heli Power India International Seminar (Civil) organized by the Rotary Wing Society of India.

It is indeed a great privilege to welcome this distinguished gathering of stalwarts and the stakeholders of the Rotary Wing aviation in India and abroad. Our special welcome to our Chief Guest, Shri.

Ashok Ganapathi Raju Pusapati Hon’ble Minister for Civil Aviation; Smt Satyavathi DG DGCA; Smt Usha Padhee Jt Secy, Ministry of Civil Aviation.

We also welcome our Keynote speakers Dr. BP Sharma CMD PHL, Dr. GV Ramana Rao Head EMRI GVK and Capt Uday Gelli CEO, Heligo Charters Pvt Ltd and guest speakers from India and abroad and thank them for agreeing to share their knowledge and expertise with us.

We are indeed honored to have with us a number of distinguished delegates from central and state govts, stakeholders of the Industry and Members of RWSI. The object of the Seminar is to provide a platform to helicopter operators, users, manufacturers, Govt. agencies and professionals to share and exchange the latest information on the usage of Helicopters in India and challenges faced by the Industry. The fleet strength of Civil Helicopters in India has declined from 277 in FY 2012-13 to 255 in Mar 2016. A number of Helicopter Operators have sold their helicopters as they were unable to sustain their cost of operations.

The high rate of customs duty for import of helicopter and spares, high cost of operation of helicopter owing to cost high of aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges at airports and underutilization of the helicopter, escalation in maintenance costs owing to 2.5 to 3 times increase in servicing and cost of Lifed Components which has resulted in pushing the cost of operations.

Added to it, the operators are facing operational, fiscal and Regulatory bottlenecks such as Lack of Infrastructure (at helipads/ heliports), high rentals charged or non-availability of infrastructural facilities at the airports and Regulatory constraints by ATC in routing etc. Reduction of custom duties and VAT on import of helicopter spares and ATF and harmonization of aeronautical and non-aeronautical tariffs for helicopters may need to be considered on priority.

More than 60% of the commercial flying is are carried out by the helicopters based at Delhi, Juhu (Mumbai), Pune, KG Basin and the rest are located across the country. It is evident that major usage of civil helicopters in India is confined to Non- scheduled passenger service from these cities. Even among Non- scheduled passenger services, the only segment which has registered growth is Heli-Pilgrimage in Uttarakhand, HP & J&K States which contributes to 25% of the total flying effort. The eight NE states have extremely bad road connectivity, and Regional Connectivity with small Fixed wing aircrafts complimented

with Helicopters is the need of the hour. Though the North Eastern States are provided subsidies to support regional air connectivity, other Himalayan States should also be considered for such support. Growth in Commercial helicopters operations for public good could come from funding and financing assistance i.e. Viability Gap Funding, a critical enabler in boosting remote area connectivity.

It is unfortunate that even after 60 years of civil helicopter operating in India, only a very small percentage of total helicopter operations is devoted to ‘Aerial Application Roles” such as Hotline washing, Casualty Air Evacuation, Under-slung load ops, Electronic News gathering, Airborne Law Enforcement etc. Although these roles have great potential for usage but have not been found to be economically viable and hence there are no takers.

At least in respect of Air Ambulance, we understand that DGCA has brought out a new Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on usage of helicopters in Air Ambulance Role. We are glad that the DGCA has taken a positive step to permit usage of Single Engine helicopters in saving lives. We feel that the helicopter industry has a huge growth prospects in our country provided certain steps are taken jointly by the concerned stake holders. Only way to Resurrect the ailing industry is to focus on implementing the Recommendations of the 169th Report of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Safety of Helicopter Operations in India as well as the Recommendations made by the Committee appointed by MOCA in Oct’ 2008. The three Technical Sessions planned after this inaugural Sessions is slated to review the usage of helicopters and Challenges faced by the Industry in its usage. We do hope that some useful suggestions will emerge for consideration of concerned Authorities.

Before I conclude my welcome address, I wish to thank our Chief Guest, honored panelists and the participants for sparing their valuable time to participate in the event. We are also grateful to the Sponsors for helping us organize the event. I once again on behalf of all of you Rotary Wing Society members, wish to thank our chief guest hon’ble minister and DGCA and representatives from the Ministry of Civil Aviation Mrs Usha Padhee and other panelists for sparing their valuable time to participate in this event. We are also grateful to the sponsor for helping us organized this event.

Thank you. ***

Sub Regional Connectivity by Helicopters by Dr. B P Sharma, CMD Pawan Hans Ltd. Dr. BP Sharma thanked AVM Sridharan for having organised this seminar and the RWSI for playing a very important role particularly for the helicopter industry. He stated that a lot has been said about the anticipated new policy to be in place and that this new policy has so much emphasis on regional connectivity. And his today’s subject is sub regional connectivity.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> We need to understand what we mean by regional connectivity and sub regional connectivity from helicopter industry’s side. In the world today we have around 3,62,000 aircrafts flying and helicopters are around 34,000 out of this total. It is a scenario at the world level and when we talk about our country with a population of 1.2 billion middle class population of 300 million plus we today have 276 helicopters in India and they are flying into a very specific type of role. The machine has not been use for the purpose it is meant for. Very optimistic estimates predict that the new aviation policy, developed under the authorship of the Civil Aviation Minister is such a visionary and forward looking policy that it will probably be a game changer for civil aviation in India. When we talk about India to be 3rdlargest aviation market by 2020; it is this policy that will develop the regional connectivity to make this happen.

And then to talk about estimates that 600-800 helicopter are being anticipated to add in to the Indian aviation by 2025, it brings lot of challenges. As on today we are not ready to receive 600-800 helicopters.

Where are we going to park them? How are we going to fly them? What will the helicopters be used for? Helicopters are not welcome at airports because this machine is not meant to fly along with fixed wing aircrafts.

There has to be a place where these helicopters will be parked and operated from and these are the regional connectivity challenges in front of all of us. The DGCA, in one such similar programme has said that they are now working as facilitator for industry. They don’t want to regulate us any more. The facilitator is definitely going to help this industry to grow in a big way. The first step has already been taken. The CAR for HEMS is already in place and with this the Madamjust claimed that they are ahead of industry on this account. This is what facilitation means. As an estimate when we are talking about 600-800 helicopters are going to come in 10 years;the question comes to mind what will they require and where will they be used? Regional connectivity will be successful if we connect every part of the big airport where we have metro cities to district level cities. To connect all the districts on air map means we need more than 600 airports or heliports as there are 670 districts as on today. Constructing an airport in every district is not a viable solution because it has to sustain. What is the way forward? The way forward is to create helipads/heliports in every district. Heliport can be created with a cost of around 40-50crores.This will be of approximately 300 square meters size, 10-12 helicopter parking and around 50 passengers’ terminal from where the passengers can fly and we can have some maintenance facility to take care of the helicopters.

This is the only way forward.

Regional connectivity success lies only in connecting small cities to the major cities by means of small fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

Cost of this infrastructure will amount to approx. 50,000 cr. We have to spend 40,000 cr. on buying of these helicopters and small fixed wing aircrafts, and another15,000 cr. is required to develop these helipads and heliports and around 10,000 cr. for skill development and MRO facilities to be developed for the purpose. This is the market which is waiting for helicopters and small fixed wing community. The government has done its job. DGCA is already on facilitation role. Industry needs to take this challenge and do this. Helicopter by nature is for the purpose of reach to the common people to provide services. 18% of the strength of these helicopters around the world(6000+ helicopters) are being used in the HEMS role; whereas, in India, we don’t have even a single helicopter for the specified purpose.

Off shore business is around 40% of the helicopters worldwide.

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In the last one year under the visionary leadership of the present civil aviation minister, the secretary civil aviation and the director general civil aviation, we have moved forward in diversification of PHHL business and we are coming up with one new heliport at Rohini in Delhi, which will be ready by May end and we want to start operations from there by June. This heliport will be landmarked for regional connectivity. We also plan to conduct regular helicopter flights from this heliport to Shimla, Haridwar, Mathura, Agra and some other cities. We are in the process of buying a passenger helicopter with a capacity of 20-25 passengers and it will really provide connectivity. Cost of travel from Delhi to Chandigarh by Indigo flight is 6800/- that is the cheapest ticket available as on today for tomorrow’s flight. Chandigarh to Shimla takes another 3-4 hours. If we can provide Rs 7000 ticket for Shimla and not only till airport but in the city, that is the way forward.

If the helicopter industry has to grow itwill have to grow in a sustainable manner and be self reliant and self dependent. We can look forward to start with some subsidy but it has to be made commercially viable for the people and it is possible. There is lot of scope in the industry. For example, a small initiative taken up on the suggestion of the present minister of Civil Aviation last year - there was Godavari Pushkar Mela in Rajamundry and in a casual observation the minister said ’why don’t you try there?’ We sent two helicopters, in fact we sent one in the beginning and it flew there for 10 days. It was an experiment we did and it went full and we could make money out of this with a ticket of 1,999/-, it was so popular that at a function a man met the minister and said "we used to think that helicopters are for VIPs only but I am thankful to you for making helicopter flying available for the common man". “It is true that common man can fly in a helicopter and this should be our industry focus to make this machine a multi use machine including for passenger transport which generally it is not but has a great potential there”.

With the above he wished all success for this seminar and thanked AVM Sridharan for having given him this opportunity. ***

Lessons from GVK EMRI 108 for Induction of HEMS (Concept) by Dr. GV Ramana Rao, EMLC & Research Head, GVK Emergency Management & Research Institute Dr. GV Ramana Rao called it a great moment for the emergency patients in this country. standing on the dais with an experience of 10 years of service in the emergency response in this country as a not for profit organisation. He said he will be dwelling on what they have been doing and what they try to link up with the helicopter emergency medical services in this country with their lessons.

Before August 15, 2005, India never had any organised emergency response services, so they, as a not-for-

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

profit organisation leveraged technology and created this integrated medical, police and fire response service on this unified toll free number 108 and then they established state-of-the-art response centre in every state. We ensured that the ambulances are strategically placed based on some information and that the pre hospital care is provided. We have also ensured that 48 hours after the patient is served, we try to obtain some feedback on the condition of the patient and the areas for improvement. This is what we call Sense Reach And Care Operations.

They have this mission of saving about 1 million lives every year and in order to do that they know that about 30 million emergencies have to be responded to. As ambulance people they thought that this ambulance should have four wheels- Technology, Innovation, Leadership and Research & Training and capacity building. In India the emergency departments are not fully established. So any person in distress in this country can use 108 and there is an amount of trust which has been created over 10 years in terms of distress. In case of road traffic accident both police and ambulance will go, in case of fire accident medical, police and fire can also go there and provide on scene service.

They generally call it primary transportation; but in India, because of geographical challenges the hospitals and tertiary care centres are far away and they have realised thattransfer from lower level to higher level hospital is very important and is referred to as inter facility transfer.

With this backdrop of leveraging technology, they identify from where the distress call is being made quickly respond to it for saving lives. Today, they respond to 25000 emergencies every day and 1/3rd of these are pregnancy related and about 12-14% are road traffic accidents and other non vehicular trauma. Number of cardiac cases and respiratory problems are also increasing.

Out of 25,000 emergencies, about 789 patients are very critical.

They need to use this principle of Golden Hour and ensure that they are at the right hospital so that the care continuum can happen.

Unlike many other world countries, India still has about 127 deliveries assisted in our ambulances on day to day basis.

They cover the foothills of Himalayas, desert areas and hilly terrains too. If you are advocating for emergencies patients, inspite of being spread in about 15 states and 2 union territories there are lot of things we all need to do and the emergencies response services have to be in time sensitive manner that need to collapse time. For this, sometimes they have looked at one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best practicing institutions. They have made collaboration with Stanford School of Medicine to ensure that these processes are as per evidence based and contemporary in terms of science technology and services also.

Today they are reaching to about 750 million people of this country. Locating emergencies is one of the key areas and for that technology plays a big role. It is not that location is identified but the type of emergency also has to be identified. For that there should be a very strong communication link both audio and visual also so that they are able to identify more details about what kind

of response should be there. They are strategically placing ambulances to ensure that response time is the minimum possible but the greatest challenge is to see from the scene while providing on scene care and en-route care, the destination hospitals are very important. Sometimes they take the patient in very critical condition for more than 3 hours or so and they may have to face very fatal things which are not acceptable in terms of service perspective. There is lot of evidence which shows that it is the environment with which these services are provided, such that they are able to overcome all the terrain challenges also. Surface ambulances are a very good beginning but they have to consider other areas also. For ex. in case of cardiac arrest situation they need to work with cardiologists and both government and private hospitals. They have created and proved this in sudden cardiac arrest situations and in heart attack cases. They need to have hub and spoke method and wherever the facilities are there near by they would be able to shift the patients to hospital in an ambulance but where there is a need, helicopter services are also utilised and all this is evidence based and is well documented. In order to save more people surface ambulances are good, universal ubiquitous basic lab support ambulances are very good but over that the time has come to build the advance life support ambulances as well as helicopters in this country from evidence perspective.

They need to have a detailed analysis of the information - what is happening in our country so that they would move from assessment to analysis to right kind of action and one of the actions suggested is to have these helicopter ambulances as part of this. For ex. - trying to take out data on cardiac cases in one of the states -Telangana it was found there are some places where they need to have these ambulance services otherwise they need to have a drive of 4-5 hours and then in difficult road conditions where they do not have exclusive places for running the ambulances also.

We need to deal with multiple causalities and disasters also and for this Dr. Kalam had asked, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;how did you manage Uttarakhand ambulances when there was cloud burst and there was very grave situation which was beyond controlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. It was an interesting experience for them how they coordinated with helicopter ambulance services and it helped them in response and evacuation also. In India we have lots of high risk areas in terms of natural and man-made disasters and there - helicopter ambulances work complementary to the existing surface ambulances.

Their team led by their chairman has been examining the global best practices. Recently in Stanford where they learnt lot of emergency medical services in terms of evidence based practices and protocol which are very pertinent to the Indian emergencies because India has different emergencies like snakebites, scorpion bites etc and they have examined some other best practices in USA where the retrieval medicine has become a specialisation. Emergency Medical services has gone to a different level where the doctors form a team and along with advanced paramedics they go in the helicopters and retrieve the patient to a place of tertiary care services.

Dr. Abdul Kalam was also insisting that particularly in road traffic accidents where 1/3 of lives can be saved if we have this advance life support care and we need to have a very close link with the hospitals.

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>>

Some of the lessons learnt out of this 108 emergency management service in this country are: there is a strong complementation between the surface ambulances and helicopters what is called first and last mile because not all places can be accessed by ambulances and not all hospitals have direct helipads.

There should be standard evidence based protocols which they have developed and they are advanced in nature and can also be used when they start the helicopter ambulance services.

Many of the state governments with whom they work in such special situations, have requested them and they have already created air ambulance services particularly at the time of elections in certain risk prone states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

people in this country would have catastrophes and many of them are medical emergencies. If there is a very good coordination and initiation, some of the projects can be piloted with the State Government/ Central Government or professional bodies like them.

They can make this cost effective for the country and ensure that they would be able to give back to the society by saving some precious lives.

Once again he thanked AVM Sridharan and his team for introducing ensure that helicopter services were made accessible to common man in this country. ***

Escalating Cost of Operations by Capt Uday Gelli, President RWSI (Western Region)

They have some experiences of creating a cadre of competencies of advanced life support which are out of the hospital where people can walk into ambulances and helicopter ambulances and create those interventions, we call, advance life support interventions and ensure that window of opportunity is there within the Golden Hour.

When they look back at their 10 years of service and expansion from one state to another state, processes are being defined and then with surface ambulances and helicopter ambulances they can start a pilot project in one state and he is sure in rest of the states replication becomes easy with their experience. They have also created an extensive documentation of hospital information systems particularly the tertiary care hospitals, super specialty hospitals all over the operating states and this information would be very useful in destination recognition like communicating with them by having pre-arrival information, they would be able to keep the doors of the emergency department open to receive the patients who are taken by advance life support ambulances orby helicopters. They have doctors, paramedics round the corner and have some space given by many of the state governments as in the case of Gujarat and many other places, helipads can beconstructed and they can send paramedics or doctors to save precious lives.

Particularly in disaster EMS services are stand-by and by having competent people, competent processes, a control and command system where they would be able to help. In their experience, almost every third or fourth day there is a need to transfer high net-worth individuals and critical patients. They have this experience of data analysis and research so that predictions can be done in mass gatherings. They are there in Kumbh mela, Ardh kumbh mela, everywhere when there is large event mass gatherings are happening they are keeping EMTs database. Time has come that stand by things are also coordinated in terms of helicopter ambulances to ensure that more lives can be saved.

He concluded by saying that when the State Government start these sort of activities civil society should also start. It is very important for us because many experts have identified that the cost has become a major challenge in initiating helicopter ambulance services. There are very good initiatives from the government. Health Policy 2015 clearly articulated that 60 million

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The subject ’Escalating Cost of Operations’, of Captain Uday Gelli’s talk had been arrived at after discussion with various operators and professionals in the industry.

We are at the cusp of growth where the government is looking at increasing the business opportunities and it is time to see how it can be achieved. This is in line with the stated objective of the Prime Minister of India to make business easy in the country.

Infrastructure cost - Over the last few years there has been huge increase in rentals at Juhu airport, which is the only airport which can be considered a heliport in the country where large number of helicopters are based and are operating regularly not only in support of the oil & gas industry but also to the corporate.Land rentals have increased 500% in one year and it has hit the industry hard, specially the smalloperators. They cannot sustain such high increases.

We have also seen non availability of space in Juhu. We are glad to hear from CMD Pawan Hans that the Rohini Heliport is being set up and is going to be operational from June. That would help helicopter fleet based in Delhi by reducing the congestion and increasing the availability of helicopters for commercial operations. We also look forward for similar set up in Juhu. There is a huge amount of space available in Juhu where there is not much of tarmac area - apron to park the helicopters. It is becoming extremely difficult to get the helicopters into Juhu airport, that is being totally restricted. While the ATC procedures have been streamlined over the period of last few years by creating corridors so there is no restriction in the movement of helicopters but there is a huge shortage of space in the helicopter parking area. That’s where we look forward for improvement.

Ground Handling charges - A charter helicopter has to pay charges specially if it is operating at private heliport like DIAL in the form of huge landing charges of Rupees 10,000 per landing.

Then there are Parking charges, PSF, UDF, Ground Handling

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<<SPECIAL REPORT-HPI-2016>> Charges, Transport Charges - all these can add up to another Rs.30,000 for a small charter company who is going for an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flying, to pay charge amounting to Rs.70,000-80,000, almost 45-50% of the the operating cost.

In addition if the helicopter has to land at certain helipad some of the helipads are charging as much as Rs 20,000 per landing. They charge for ambulance & fire fighting services and agent charges. All these add up to the cost of operation. Under such circumstances it is very difficult for the private companies to promote the charter flying/ commercial flying which is required at this stage.

The Regulatory issues - while we appreciate that DGCA is working towards coming out with new civil aviation requirement for instance in cases like HEMS which the industry welcomes because there is clarity in the way we are going to operate HEMS as we have heard from GVK that we need to coordinate with the ground ambulance services and there is huge potential and requirement also for air ambulance. In a similar way we require rules to be easily implementable in our day to day operations. Eg. If a operator wants to import a helicopter into the country from the time he custom clears the helicopter and gets it to his hanger it takes almost 60 days to complete the formalities like certificate, registrationnumbers, aero mobile license, certificate of airworthiness etc. 60 days delay because the person has imported the helicopter either he bought it or leased it and the lease generally starts from the day he signs the agreement overseas. Some times the operator before he starts commercial operations he is already dawn almost a crore of rupees in his expenses.

Interpretation of Civil Aviation Requirements - there is lot of scope for interpreting the way some people look at it: specially looking at it from the point of view of junior people and middle level officers of DGCA at the level of Asst Directors and Dy Directors. These are the officers who go to the operators to carry out inspections and do the assessment of whatever is required. We believe that some of them are using their discretion to interpret rules in their own ways. If this particular aspect can be looked into and the concerned officers are sensitised about this particular aspect because there are large number of issues and operators are facing huge problems specially in the fields.

We talked about regulator being facilitator and that is what industry is looking at for its growth. People might ask why the Cost Of ATF is high when it is being brought down. If you look at the chart the fuel supplied in Juhu is most expensive in the country which is unbelievable because that airport is just 1.5 km from Mumbai and in Mumbai Cost/ Litre is Rs 47 and in Juhu Rs 64 and it is available the cheapest in Vizag at Rs 37.5. Courtesy the dynamic approach taken

by Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in reducing the sales tax. We really wish and hope that such sales taxes are brought down in other states so that it can help in the growth of helicopter industry.

The essential requirement of the helicopter industry Industry wants reduction in rentals and other charges. We are not asking for waivers. We are not going to the nitty-gritty of parking charges, landing charges, rentals or whatever. We are asking if existing rates can be cut down by 50% we believe that will really act as an impetus for the growth of helicopter industry in private sector. We also talked about field level officers Of DGCA

being sensitised to make business easy and possible.

The paper work be made more transparent & be decentralised.

We are grateful to the DGCA for creating the FOI directorate in the western region but we also feel that they need to get more powers to take certain actions for instance the companies go to DGCA for approvals - one time approval for pilots, inspectors, examiners . That paper work comes to the main office and gets stuck. In some cases it takes 2-3 months. People are not aware of the progress of their application. We need to make that transparent. When the aim is do this training at a great cost, abroad, at the manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s facilities and come back. After that waiting and waiting for the oral examination - we believe that this period needs to be cut down. Companies spend large amount of money and they need to make use of that. If they continue to sit on the ground I think that causes the company a great loss. We request that this may be looked into.

We already talked about providing better facilities for operators at the airports. Juhu airport is a very important heliport, specially large number of helicopters operate for oil & gas sector which is extremely important for the nation. We do not have the night landing facilities.

There are lot of emergencies, medical evacuation done by the ONGC from Mumbai Offshore. We believe that by creating night landing facilities at Juhu airport will help to a great extent to industry and specially the oil and gas industry.

- QE 31 MARCH - 2016

***

Cultural Show

Lunch / Networking 41

<<PAWAN HANS LTD.>>

HAL and PHL to Establish Helicopter MRO at Delhi Bengaluru, March 16, 2016: HAL and Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) signed an MoU to establish a Joint Venture at Rohini (Delhi) to carry-out the maintenance work related to all types of helicopters and address the needs of defence and civil markets in India and other countries at a program held at the ongoing India Aviation-2016 at Hyderabad today.

Mr. Ashok Gajapati Raju, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr. Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL, Dr. B.P. Sharma, CMD (PHL) and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

“The business of the joint venture will be conducted in the best interest of the customers based on sound commercial principles”, says Mr. Raju. Mr. V. Sadagopan, CEO (Helicopter Complex, HAL) and Mr. Sanjiv Bahl, Executive Director, (PHL) signed the MoU. According Mr. Raju, both the companies will form a joint working team and conduct detailed studies, work on business plan, time line and other required documents for the success of the venture. HAL has been manufacturing and overhauling its Cheetah/Chetak and Dhruv helicopters besides providing support for Seaking helicopter. The PHL is the largest civil helicopter operator in the country.

HAL and PHL signing the MoU for MRO business at the on-going India Aviation 2016 in Hyderabad in the presence of Mr. Ashok Gajapati Raju, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL (to left of the Minister) Dr. B.P. Sharma, CMDPHL (to the right of the Minister)

Helicopter business of HAL presently contributes to sizeable business of HAL. In the years to come, this business segment will grow fast. The fleet size of helicopters in Civil Segment in India is expected to go up to 800 in the next 10 years. In addition, there is expected induction

of 600 helicopters in defence. All this will require MRO and logistic support to sustain. Also, under the Government of India’s “Make in India”, campaign there will be greater emphasis on boosting the civil aviation sector. The Government has released a new Draft Civil Aviation Policy on October 30, 2015 with a special focus on Helicopter and MRO. Against this background, HAL-PHL agreement on Helicopter MRO assumes significance.•

Book Tickets for PHL Flights through IRCTC Website

PHL Starts Commercial Helicopter Ops in Goa

16 March 2016, seeking to promote helicopter-tourism, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and Pawan Hans have joined hands under an agreement that would allow flyers to book tickets through IRCTC website. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed to implement the ‘heli project’ by making joint use of their capabilities and facilities to give a major fillip to tourism initiatives by the IRCTC, a railways PSU. The agreement envisages both sides to jointly identify areas of cooperation and draw up detailed projects to promote ‘heli tourism’ in the country and enable selling of online tickets for regular and chartered helicopter services and joy rides.

“The signing of MoU with Pawan Hans will give a major push to our tourism initiatives by promoting ‘heli tourism’ in the country, an area which has enormous potential as a tourist product,” IRCTC’s Chairman and Managing Director A K Manocha told PTI. The two sides will also facilitate marketing or cross-selling of products and services through both physical outlets and websites, thus improving the range of services to their own customers. Both will also undertake opening and managing of various catering and hospitality outlets and budget hotels through their joint strength, at Pawan Hans (PH) properties and non-PH locations.

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On 2 Feb 2016, despite protests from locals, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) began commercial operations of helicopter joy rides in the State. GTDC has joined hands with Pawan Hans company for the helicopter joy rides from Panaji to Aguada helipad, located across river Mandovi.

The first flight took off at 1 PM and landed at Aguada helipad after flying the tourists over river Mandovi, Candolim beach and Old Goa church monuments. Locals who are staying around Aguada plateau have been opposing heli-tourism claiming that it would affect their livelihood.

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<<AIRBUS HELICOPTERS>> Europe’s Airbus Group which is competing for aircraft orders from India’s Navy and Air Force, that would build local assembly lines if these projects came through.

Airbus Plans Global hub in India for Panther Copters

The final assembly lines to make Panther helicopters for the Navy and C295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force will be built at a cost of over Rs.5,000 crore and will create over 10,000 high skilled jobs, the aerospace and defence firm said in New Delhi.

“We are proposing to establish a final assembly line in India for the AS565 MBe Panther helicopters, if we get the Naval Utility Helicopters contract,” said Pierre de Bausset, President and Managing Director, Airbus Group India. “We will have India as the global hub for Panthers,” he added.

He said, “along with the final assembly line, Airbus will set up Tier I, II and III supply chain infrastructure in India for these helicopters”.

Airbus Helicopters is in the process to form a Joint Venture Company with Mahindra Defence Systems Ltd. This company hopes to become the Private Strategic Partner on helicopter platforms.

On 24 January, the Defence Production Arm of the Mahindra Group, Mahindra Defence and Airbus Helicopters had signed a so-called Statement of Intent to produce military helicopters in India.

The Companies plans to set up a final assembly line in India, develop tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers and make extensive transfer of technology, to achieve 50% indigenous content.

In July, Mahindra Defence and Airbus Helicopters signed an In-principle Agreement to set up a joint venture to manufacture helicopters in India, seeking to tap a military hardware market estimated to grow to $41 billion in the next seven years.

Apart from the Naval Utility Helicopters, the Joint Company will also target the Reconnaissance & Surveillance Helicopters (RSH) requirement of over 200 units with the H125M Fennec and the Naval Multi-Role Helicopters (NMRH) requirement of more than 120 units with the H225M (previously marketed as EC725).

The Company also plans to establish a final assembly line in India for the C295 military transport aircraft in partnership with Tata Group companies. The C295 is being proposed as a replacement for the Indian Air Force’s ageing Avro An-32 fleet.

The Company Management stated that the selection process

was on track and field evaluation trials were expected in the near future.

The Make In India initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014 aims to boost domestic manufacturing and create jobs. Twenty-five sectors were identified for Make In India, from automobiles to aviation to pharmaceuticals to tourism and wellness.

Stressing that the Group is already making in India through its over 45 suppliers, de Bausset said, “What we buy in India, we make in India.”

Referring to the Indian Government Rules restricting foreign ownership in the Indian Defence Sector to 49%, de Bausset said: “The issue is not the limit per se. The business case for high-tech transfer to India becomes more compelling if foreign OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are allowed to have adequate equity and management control in the joint venture in line with the risks they are taking and the contributions they are providing.”

In a first for any foreign aerospace and defence OEM in India, Airbus Group exceeded the $500 million annual procurement mark from India in 2015, Mint reported on 12 March.

Airbus Group has now set its sight on exceeding $2 billion in cumulative procurement, covering both civil and defence, in the five years up to 2020, Mint reported citing de Bausset.•

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<<BELL HELICOPTER>>

Simrik Air Signs for First Bell 407 GXP in Nepal Bell Helicopter attracts customers after demonstrating the heightened capability of Bell 407GXP in Nepal last year Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced on 16 February 2016 an agreement for the purchase of the first Bell 407GXP in Nepal. This will be the customer’s first Bell helicopter and will be outfitted for multimission capabilities including travel and tourism.

Chairman of Simrik Air Pvt Ltd., Capt.

Rameshwar Thapa, joined Bell Helicopter’s leadership team at the Singapore Airshow to sign the agreement for the first Bell 407GXP in Nepal.

Simrik Air, established in 2001, is a leading helicopter company in Nepal with a superior track record in high altitude rescue services. Simrik Air’s trained pilots and rescue specialists from the United States and Switzerland carry out long line missions for rescues, heli skiing missions, filming operations, aerial surveying, and more.

(Pictured from left to right: Sameer Rehman, Bell Helicopter’s managing director of Asia Pacific; Rajendra Singh,

managing director, Simrik Air; B.S. Singh Deo, Bell Helicopter’s managing director of India; Capt. Rameshwar “At Simrik Air, we pride ourselves on Thapa, Chairman of Simrik Air; Patrick Moulay, Bell Helicopter’s vice president of Global Sales and Marketing and Shiram Ghatpande, Bell Helicopter’s business development senior manager.) meeting any helicopter mission requirement – whenever and wherever – and safety remains the top priority in our company, which is why the Bell 407GXP is a great Bell Helicopter introduced the latest variant of the popular Bell fit for our team,” said Capt. Rameshwar Thapa, Chairman, Simrik Air 407 platform at Heli-Expo 2015 in March, with great customer Pvt Ltd. “After testing the aircraft and experiencing first-hand the interest.

The new aircraft incorporates the reliability and advanced maneuverability and smooth performance during the recent Bell technology of the Bell 407GX platform, and introduces performance 407GXP demo tour in Nepal, we could not be more thrilled to add enhancements, payload increase and pilot workload reduction.• the Bell 407GXP to our fleet.”

First Bell 407GXP Purchased in India arrange aircraft charter throughout India on a short notice.

Bell Helicopter announced the first Bell 407GXP purchase in India by Premair, an air charter management company. The aircraft will be outfitted for corporate and VIP transport throughout the region and delivered to the customer later this year.

“Requirements for hot and high performance remains a key element for operations throughout India, and the enhanced payload, heightened capability and safety margins, along with the fully integrated glass cockpit of the Bell 407GXP were the exact fit for our customer’s needs,” said Sameer A. Rehman, managing director, Asia Pacific.

“We are delighted to continue our support of Premair’s operations and look forward to delivering the Bell 407GXP.”

The Bell 407GXP was signed for at Bell Helicopter’s India office and Premair will be the first to operate this aircraft throughout India.

“We are thrilled to be the first in India to purchase the new Bell 407GXP,” said Wg Cdr H.S. Waraich. “The luxurious interior, combined with the smooth, quiet performance of the aircraft is exactly what we were looking for to quickly and comfortably transfer our customers and clients throughout the region.”

Premair, a unit of Afimac Associates Private Limited, is based in Delhi, India, and has more than 15 years of experience in aviation and provides 24/7 aviation related services to customers. The company can

Derived from the Bell 407GX platform, the Bell 407GXP has an additional 50 lbs (22.5 kg) of payload capability, coupled with the new M250 Rolls-Royce engine that improves performance and fuel efficiency delivering class leading hot and high performance. The aircraft is also equipped with new avionics features such as a hover performance calculator improvement, as well as a transmission TBO extension of +500 hours that is expected to lower maintenance costs.•

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<<BOEING AIRCRAFT>>

A Multi-role Aircraft The CH-47F is an advanced multimission helicopter for the U.S. Army and international defense forces. It contains a fully integrated, digital cockpit management system, Common Aviation Architecture Cockpit and advanced cargo-handling capabilities that complement the aircraft's mission performance and handling characteristics.

Support Optimizing readiness of the Chinook fleet around the globe is one of Boeing’s many missions. From performance-based logistics contracting and integrated fleet support to vertical lift maintenance, modifications and repairs, Boeing provides a broad spectrum of innovative products and services which directly support and enhance capabilities while reducing total cost of ownership. These services range from transactional spares to complete lifecycle support solutions that are uniquely tailored to the requirements of each CH-47 customer.

Cargo on/off loading system

Whether responding to natural disasters or flying into the heat of battle, the CH-47 Chinook continues to be one of the most versatile aircraft ever built.One example of this is the aircraft’s new Cargo On/Off Loading System, or COOLS, which allows Chinook crews to quickly reconfigure the floor of the helicopter to accommodate passengers or carry cargo.“You can take off on a cargo mission with the rollers installed,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Joe Hoecherl, Product Manager, CH-47 Modernization. “If you have a change of mission in route, in 15 minutes or less you can flip over to a flat floor so it’s safe to take passengers.”“COOLS really gives the Army the flexibility of performing a variety of troop missions and cargo missions without any restrictions,” said Boeing CH-47F Project Manager Greg Solakian.The Army plans to retrofit its entire CH-47F fleet, as well as some D models, with COOLS. By 2015, COOLS will be standard during production.•

Boeing’s Sourcing from India has doubled Boeing’s sourcing from India has more than doubled since Make in India initiative by the government, said Dennis Swanson, vice-president, Boeing Defense, Space & Security in India to the Media recently.

More than half a billion dollars of sourcing happens from India annually. Also Boeing’s sourcing from India doubled since ‘Make in India’ launched in September 2014. By 2020, Boeing expects it will double. The company’s engagement with suppliers has increased substantially for commercial and defence aircraft such as the 777, 787, P-8, F/A-18, F-15, CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache. This is indicative of the performance and quality that Indian suppliers are capable of delivering for the global market. Indian suppliers are becoming a key part of the global aerospace supply chain. Boeing presently has 30 direct and over a 100 indirect suppliers who work with them in India.

Under joint venture with Tata Advanced Systems, Boeing will manufacture aero structures for aircraft and collaborate on integrated systems development opportunities in India. The JV will initially create a manufacturing center of excellence to produce aero-structures for the AH-64 Apache helicopter and to compete for additional manufacturing work packages across Boeing platforms, both commercial and military.•

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ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

250mm Live

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boeing.co.in

TOGETHER. BUILDING THE FUTURE. Boeing is proud of its longstanding partnership with India. A partnership India can depend upon to meet its developing requirements, from surveillance, strike and mobility platforms to C4ISR, unmanned systems and support services. The most advanced systems and technologies providing the greatest value for India today and tomorrow.

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<<HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LTD.>>

PM Lays Foundation Stone for HAL’s New Helicopter Manufacturing Facility at Tumakuru Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for HAL’s new Helicopter Manufacturing Facility at BiderehallaKaval, Gubbi Taluk, Tumakuru, about 100 km from Bengaluru on 3 Jan’16. “With this, the small village has come on the world-map as it would be manufacturing machines that would protect the country. It is no ordinary facility as the world’s attention would be focused on it. I expect the indigenous helicopter under Makein-India, to fly-out by 2018. It is a gift from Government of India to the people of Karnataka, Tumakuru in particular. Nearly 4000 families, directly or indirectly will benefit from this largest ever investment of Rs 5,000 crores in Tumakuru”, he said at the event.

The Prime Minister hoped that HAL would produce 600 helicopters in 15 year period and India’s Defence Forces would be the greatest beneficiary of this. “I want companies such as HAL to help the country reduce dependency on overseas suppliers”, he added.

Mr. Modi congratulated HAL employees, past and present. “I believe that HAL has good manpower and technical knowhow to fulfill the future needs”, he added. Speaking on the

occasion, the Defence Minister, Mr. Manohar Parrikar hoped that HAL will one day transform into a lead integrator and spearhead the development of aerospace eco-system in India.

The Tumakuru facility would meet the country’s massive requirements in the Defence sector, he added.

Mr. Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka said, Karnataka has supported HAL all through since its inception and will continue to support by providing additional land for this project. He added, the State is proud to

have created conducive environment for the aerospace and defence sector with aerospacepark at Devanahalli.

HAL CMD, Mr. T. Suvarna Raju said HAL would continue to play a significant role in realizing Prime Minister’s missions like ‘Makein-India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ to achieve self-reliance in defence sector. Mr. Vajubhai Vala, Governor of Karnataka, Union Ministers, Ministers from Karnataka, officials from various quarters attended the massive gathering.•

LCH Fires Rockets in ‘Iron Fist’ Exercise-2016 14 MAR 2016; After successful completion of basic performance flight testing and outstation trials for cold weather, hot weather and hot & high altitude testing in the year 2015, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has achieved yet another milestone by satisfactory firing of Rockets (70mm) from its prototype, TD-3 in weaponized configuration.

“The initial rocket firing trials have been carried out at Jaisalmer, establishing satisfactory integration of hardware and software, structural integrity and safe separation of rocket ammunition. Integration of weapons such as Rocket, Turret Gun (20mm) and Air to Air Missile on LCH will further continue”, says Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL. “These trials give us confidence for carrying out certification firing trials planned during April-May 2016”, he adds.

LCH will participate in IAF’s ‘Iron Fist 2016’ exercise on March 18, 2016.

50

The LCH TD-3 is integrated with ElectoOptical (EO) System, Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVR) and 70mm Rocket system in conjunction with an updated Glass Cockpit software to cater for rocket firing.

LCH is a 5.5-ton class, combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter. The features that are unique to LCH are sleek and narrow fuselage, tri-cycle crashworthy landing gear, crashworthy and self sealing fuel tanks, armor protection, nuclear and low visibility features which makes the LCH lethal, agile and survivable.

The helicopter will have day/night targeting systems for the crew including the Helmet Pointed Sight and Electro-Optical Pod consisting of CCD camera/FLIR/Laser Range

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

Finder (LRF)/Laser Designator (LD). The LCH is fitted with Self Protection Suite consisting of Radar/Laser Missile warning systems and Counter Measures Dispensing System (CMDS).

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WHEN A NATION FEELS SECURE IT SHOWS

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

<<NEW TECHNOLOGIES>>

New Technologies for Vibration Control on Helicopters [ Mr. K. S. Narayana Rao, Technical Manger â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Aerospace, LORD India Pvt. Ltd.]

Abstract Considerable research has been conducted on various concepts of vibration control covering different technologies like optimal tuning, Dynamic absorbers, Rotor isolation and Active control technology on the blade using smart materials.

LORD being a pioneer in Vibration and Motion Control has done innovative research in developing matured systems to reduce Vibration involving conventional, Fluidlastic and Electro Mechanical Technology. This has enabled the Company to customise Vibration Control Systems in both passive and active configurations for different configurations of Helicopter.

With the Fluidlastic Technology, LORD has developed LeadLag dampers and Rotor isolation involving Pylon Isolation struts having good range of static stiffness considering static deflection and performance over the operating envelope. In order to enhance the performance and to cover a wider operating band of frequency, LORD has done demonstration with Active Fluidlastic Isolation System (AFIS).

In the area of Active Vibration Control for Helicopters using Electro-mechanical technology, LORD has done extensive research in developing active systems using Linear and Bi-Axial force generators. The Linear and Bi-axial systems have matured and have been adopted as cabin mounted systems on various platforms like Dhruv, H130T2, H135, H-145, AW139, AW169, CH-47 and future Bell525.

Further, LORD is developing Active Vibration Control Technology to counter the vibration much closer to the source to achieve even lower vibration levels in the cabin or fuselage. The development has been very promising based on ground tests conducted on a well-known helicopter platform. This technology will enable lower vibration levels in the cabin to be achieved with lower weight force generators that will further improve passenger comfort and fatigue life of the various components on the Helicopter.

1.0 Introduction Rotor-induced vibration is still one of the main challenges for a passenger friendly helicopter cabin and protecting sophisticated electronic systems in modern Helicopters. The challenge is due to three main reasons. Firstly, helicopters are subject to a highly asymmetric, turbulent aerodynamic environment resulting in high Vibratory loads. Secondly, the requirement to design for minimum aircraft weight leads to flexible airframe structures with considerable dynamic response.

Thirdly, the passenger is in very close proximity to the disturbing sources and has a high level of perception in the frequency range of 0 to 35 Hz. Even though extensive care is taken in the aerodynamic and dynamic design of optimum rotor system in reducing the vibratory loads as much as possible at the source, with the 52

stringent vibration criteria set for the crew/passenger comfort, vibration isolation system become important for the success of the helicopter.

This paper broadly outlines the vibrationcontrol Systems developed by LORD using Fluidlastic and Electro Mechanical Technology.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this transmission is confidential. It is intended solely for the use of the individual(s) or organization(s) to whom it is addressed. If you have received this transmission in error, please advise the sender and destroy all pages.

Any disclosure, copying or further distribution is prohibited unless explicitly approved in writing by LORD Corporation.

1.1 Fluidlastic Lead-Lag Damper The Fluidlastic Dampers provide higher damping with loss factors from .3 to 1.6 and has more linear dynamic performance (reduced amplitude sensitivity). These dampers have longer service life with less creep under steady loads. As these dampers are hermitically sealed needs no maintenance till their technical life is over. Typical lead â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Lag damper with Fluidlastic technology is shown in Fig.1

Fluidlastic Pylon Isolators Fluidlastic Pylon isolators are interposed between Main Gear Box of the Rotor and Transmission deck of the Fuselage. The installation is such that the suspension transfers the static loads and isolate the dynamic loads from the Rotor to the fuselage thus controlling the vibration level. Typical Pylon Isolation strut installation is shown in Fig.2

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

<<NEW TECHNOLOGIES>> The operating Principle of Fluidlastic pylon Isolators as shown in Fig.3works by pumping fluid from one chamber to another due to the dynamic motion imposed on them. Since the motion of the fluid is opposite that of the isolator we take advantage of the inertial effects of the fluid to reduce the effective stiffness at a specified frequency (N/Rev)

2.0 Active Vibration Control System (AVCS) Elastomer provides required static stiffness to minimize motion of MGB suspension and Fluidchambers with the orifice optimizes the dynamic stiffness characteristics to minimize the fuselage vibration.To understand the action of the Fluidlastic isolation System, it is useful to compare it to the mechanically amplified inertia isolator, Figure 4, since their actions and reactions are analogous.

In the Pylon Isolator system, the area ratio [R] of the outer cylinder to the tuning port is analogous to the length ratio of arms [b/a] on the mechanical Isolator; the elastic spring isequivalent to the mechanical spring, and the inertial effect of the liquid in the tuning port is analogous to the inertial effect of the tuning weight on the arm Damping in the System is minimized not only by using a low damped elastomer but also by using an inviscid fluid and by setting the hydraulic area ratio, R, to a low enough value to prevent excessive fluid velocities in the tuning port. The fluid motion in the tuning port is a function of the pylon and fuselage motions, A typical frequency response of the Dynamic stiffness is shown in Fig, 5. The parameters of the isolator are so tuned to have minimum dynamic stiffness at the frequency of isolation. This will allow low dynamic loads to the fuselage thus reducing the vibration level. Some of the application of the Technology is shown below, Fig. 6

The active system essentially consists of actuator, sensors, harness and controller with software. The sensors are positioned in the areas where vibration reduction is needed. The actuator and sensor location is so optimised that output of sensor g per Newton of actuator force is high. The software algorithm is written such a way, the vibration levels at the sensor location in minimised thus bringing the vibration under control. A schematic configuration of Active control system is shown in Fig. 7.

2.1 Active Vibration Control system (AVCS) with Linear Actuators In order to reduce the vibration level & to meet the Mil requirements over the entire speed range additional devices in the fuselage like active Frahm dampers also known as 1 st Generation AVCS.The Frahm damper is a linear actuatorproduces dynamic force at N/Rev frequency in a single direction. It an Inertial Actuator and uses a lightly damped resonance near N/Rev frequency to minimize weight, power requirements The actuator Incorporates a linear electrodynamic motor with laminated springs in Flexure designed for billions of cycles to long life. The constructional features of the actuator is shown in Fig. 7a, 7b.

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

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<<NEW TECHNOLOGIES>> The Active Vibration Control System with Linear actuator has been employed in Dhruv helicopter. The actuators are mounted in the cabin to control the vibration in cabin and crew area. The configuration of the system adopted is shown in Fig. 8

The Linear and Bi-axial systems have matured and have been adopted as cabin mounted systems on various platforms like Dhruv, H130T2, H135, H-145, AW139, AW169, CH-47 and future Bell525.

Typical installation and performance on Dhruv is shown in Fig.11

3.2 Active Vibration Control System (AVCS) with Circular Force Generator (CFG) LORD Corporationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Active Vibration Control Systems (AVCS) using Circular Force Generators (CFG) can provide significant improvements in vibration reduction, weight, power, and modularity over existing helicopter vibration control systems. The AVCS allows for a modular design approach both in hardware where a mixture of accelerometer types and CFG design variants can be used, as well as, in software where tuning of the system is done through the use of Parameter Data Item Files. CFGs allow for the production of diverse force shapes at a significantly lower weight than traditional linear force generators. The CFGs also require low power with significant reduction in power over a broad frequency range with good applicability for variable rotor speed helicopters. Typical configuration of AVCS with CFG is shown in Fig.8

2.2 Active Vibration Control system mounted on the Hub

The circular force generator consists of two unbalanced rotors which are operated at the required speed to match with the frequency of vibratory load to be attenuated. By manipulating the sense of rotation of the rotors and the offset between them, it is possible to generate the force from zero to Max. In any direction in the rotating plane as shown in Fig, 10 54

Further, LORD is developing active vibration control technology to counter the vibration much closer to the source to achieve even lower vibration levels in the cabin or fuselage. The development has been very promising based on ground tests conducted on a well-known helicopter platform. This technology will enable lower vibration levels in the cabin to be achieved with lower weight force generators that will further improve passenger comfort and fatigue life of the various components on the Helicopter. Fig 12 shows the LORD road map for new Technologies in Vibration control using Active systems. LORD has matured Technology in cabin and gear box based AVCS. Now the present emphasis is on the hub mounted system. The laboratory tests are very promising as indicated in Fig.13.

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

<<NEW TECHNOLOGIES>>

3.0 Conclusion LORD has done innovative research in developing matured systems to reduce Vibration involving conventional, Fluidlastic and Electro Mechanical Technology.  With the Fluidlastic Technology, LORD has developed LeadLag dampers and Rotor isolation involving Pylon Isolation struts having good range of static stiffness considering static deflection and performance over the operating envelope.  The Linear and Bi-axial systems have matured and have been adopted as cabin mounted systems on various platforms like Dhruv, H130T2, H135, H-145, AW139, AW169, CH-47 and future Bell525.  Further, LORD is developing active vibration control technology to counter the vibration much closer to the source to achieve even lower vibration levels in the cabin or fuselage.

4.0 Refferences.

1.0 Heilmann, John, Swanson, Doug, Badre-Alam, Asker, Rao, K.S. Narayana, “Vibration Attenuation Through the Use of Active Frahms,” AHS Forum 59, Phoenix, Arizona, May 6-8, 2003.

2.0 Michael Smith, W. Scott Redinger, “The Model 427 Pylon Isolator, AHS Forum 55, Montreal,canada,1999 3.0 Konstanz, Peter, Enenkl, Bernhard, Aubourg, PierreAntoine, Cranga, Paul, “Recent Advances in Eurocopter’s Passive and Active Vibration Control,” AHS Forum 64, Montreal, Canada, April 29-May 1, 2008.

4.0 Halwes, D.R., “LIVE – Liquid Inertia Vibration Eliminator,”American Helicopter Society 36th Annual Forum, Washington, D.C., May 1980.

ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

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<<RWSI TRAINING>>

Safety through Education RWSI has been the first organization in the country to start ground training courses for civil helicopter pilots in September 2004. Since then, a total of 4233 candidates have benefitted from 244 courses conducted by RWSI on various subjects. RWSI is continuously putting effort in developing and maintaining its training programmes. During the FY 2015-16, it trained a total of 1202 pilots in various courses. Details of courses conducted so far are outlined below: -

The feedback received from the participants ranged from very good to excellent. The feedback received on the contents of the courses are being analysed by the Training Faculty for further improvement.

International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) Helicopter Training Toolkit Every operator must visit IHST website (ihst.org) and go through the Helicopter Training Tool Kit provided in it. The kit is based on the analysis made by Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) of reported helicopter accidents as recorded in the NTSBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S.A. database. The JHSAT found that contributing factors in many accidents were the lack of standardized training, lack of simulator availability for single engine operations, lack of operational specific training scenarios and a lack of human factors training. Due to the deficiency in effective training, including standardization and availability, operators did not adequately provide training and training opportunities to their pilots. This toolkit will help small and medium size operators develop an effective training program that will show a return on investment, and/or cost effectiveness from both financial and safety perspectives. It will help organizations develop effective training that is designed to fit the size, nature and specific operation of their organization.

Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) K.Sridharan IHST Lead India

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59

RWSI Milestones-2015-2016 • For promotion and diffusion of knowledge of rotary wing aviation, RWSI has been publishing its qtly magazine “ROTOR INDIA” since 31 Mar’99. The magazine has spared no effort in focusing on efforts required in improving safety of helicopter operations in India. It has been publishing articles providing the latest information on safety trends, statistics and management techniques related to industry.

• A total of four quarterly issues of ‘ROTOR INDIA’ were published up to 31 Mar’16 during the period besides three Special Reports on two National Seminars and one International Seminars conducted by the Society.

In Building Awareness of its Fraternity on latest concepts in Rotary Wing Aviation, Technology and Matters of topical interest to the Industry, RWSI carried out the activities :• National Symposium on Resurrecting Ailing Civil Helicopter Industry in India on 02 September 2015 at Habitat Centre New Delhi.

• Air Cmde SK Majumdar Memorial Lecture on “Prospects & Challenges in the Usage of Next Gen Helicopters” was held at Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 02 September 2015 .

• Towards Enhancing Safety of onshore & offshore operations: RWSI has carried out Safety Orientation Courses on Heli Ops for Offshore Employees deployed in the Offshore Rigs as part of confidence building measures in air travel by helicopters.

• Team RWSI comprising of highly experienced pilots who have flown extensively in the Bombay High conducted the Safety Orientation Courses at seven of ONGC offshore installations including Heera Platform, Neelam Platform, BLQ-1 Platform, BLQ- II Platform, MHN (North Field), NQO and ICP during 20-25 Jan’16.

• An interactive session on “Performance Based Navigation System for Efficient Heli Ops in India” was held at RWSI Hqs, Office No 609 I Thum Tower, Sector 62 NOIDA on 08 February 2016. Reps from Air HQs & DGCA participated in the event.

• An International Seminar, Heli Power India-2016 was conducted by RWSI at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi on 21-22 March 2016. The object of the event was to provide a platform to helicopter operators, users, manufacturers, Govt. agencies and professionals to share and exchange the latest information and views on all aspects of usage of helicopters which will be of immense benefit to the Industry. The first day of the seminar was devoted to Military Helicopter Aviation. The second day event was devoted to usage of Civil Helicopters and Challenges faced by the Industry.

• RWSI Education Programme is to train the aircrew / ground crew so that their professional knowledge is enhanced, whereby they can apply this knowledge in their working environment and improve the safety culture. Since 2004 RWSI has carried out well over 244 Courses in which over 4233 participants got benefitted. During the FY 2015-16, it trained a total of 1202 pilots in various courses.

• Towards Enhancing Safety of offshore operations, RWSI carried out a Third Party Safety Audit at RIL facilities during 0910 Apr 15 at Gadimoga and GVHL Facilities at Mumbai during 21-22 Apr 2015.

• In establishing an enabling environment for the Industry to grow, RWSI as a nodal agency has been coordinating with DGCA, AAI & MOCA to resolve common Op & Fiscal issues of the Operators. Besides, RWSI Reps have attended numerous events hosted by organisations such as AeSI, BAOA, FICCI, CII, IHST, HAI & IFHA. • In recognition of professional excellence of the Members, RWSI honored 12 Professionals of the Industry with Salute to Excellence Awards on 21-22 Mar 16 during Heli Power India -2016, International Seminar at the Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi-10.

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<<RWSI ACTIVITIES>>

13th AGM of RWSI was held on 21 Mar’16

Pictures of life members of RWSI who participated in the 13th AGM at Air Force Auditorium, Subrotopark, New Delhi - 110010

The 13th AGM of RWSI was held on 21 March 2016 at 1730 hrs at Air Force Auditorium Subroto Park New Delhi. A number of Life Members participated in the event. The President read out the Annual Report of the Society for the year 2014-15. In his opening address, he congratulated the members of the society on becoming the proud owners of 4500 Sft of Office accommodation in Ithum, Sector-62 , Noida, the current Head Quarters of RWSI since 22 Oct 2015. He explained in detail, the work done in developing the Office in terms of layout, furnishings, work stations, with computers , lecture Hall (for 15 trainees) fitted with the latest training aids. He also informed the Members about the vacant office space (2250 sft) that is likely to be rented out to Thakur Institute of Aviation Technology, Mumbai for starting a joint Type Training Institute / Aviation Skill Development Centre with the assistance of a few OEMs in the near future. The voluntary efforts put in by the GC Members, RWSI Office bearers and a few donors like Raymond Ltd and Reliance Industries to shape up the current Office complex, were unanimously applauded.

Gp Capt MK Labroo, Treasurer RWSI informed the AGM that an amount of Rs. 3.32 Lac was lying outstanding with the Operators / Corporate members for the period prior to 2014 and the same needed to be Written Off, as bad debt. The various efforts made by the Society to recover the amount in the past, were discussed in detail. While the outstanding amount was unanimously passed for write Off action a few members suggested that a Final Reminder with a caption of “ Firm & Final Reminder” for the outstanding

amount, be forwarded to the defaulters. After 30 days from the date of the reminder, if the amount still remained outstanding, the same could then be written off as “Bad Debt”. This proposal was unanimously approved by the Members.

Then the Budget for the year 2016-17 was presented and explained in detail by the Treasure. After some clarifications the Budget was approved by the AGM. Wg Cdr BS Sing Deo, Vice President suggested that RWSI should participate in IHST Regional Seminars & Conferences. The President explained that due to paucity of the funds in the Society, RWSI, even though a member of IHST and founder member of IFHA, had to request a few of its Corporate members to represent RWSI in a number of past International Seminars at their Company cost. It was unanimously decided that in future RWSI would be represented at the International Seminars by its members in rotation at RWSI cost subject to he improvement of the funds.

The Treasurer intimated the members that the current financial situation in RWSI was passing through a difficult stage in terms of the low revenue generation and described the factors contributing to the drying up of the revenue resources. He appealed to the members to join the Training faculty /Safety Audit team of RWSI and also use their better offices to encourage Helicopter Operator to avail of the services being offered by RWSI in ground training and safety Audit.

There being no further points, the 13th AGM meeting concluded at 1845 hrs with a Vote of Thanks by Group Captain MK Labroo, Treasurer, RWSI•

RWSI holds its 51st Governing Council Meeting The 51st Governing Council Meeting of the Society was held on 20 March 2016 at Air Force Officers’ Mess, Palam, New Delhi.

GC Members present included AVM (Retd.) K Sridharan, Lt Gen (Retd.) BS Pawar, Gp Capt (Retd.) MK Labroo,Wg Cdr(Retd.) Sanjay Mittal, Wg Cdr (Retd.) VP Mathur, Col (Retd.) DK Chand, Wg Cdr(Retd.) NS Krishna, Dr. G Sairamanan and Wg Cdr (Retd.)Ramesh Mallik. Gp Capt (Retd.) RS Malhari, Sr Adm Officer RWSI and Gp Capt (Retd.) and Mrs BS Daulta were also present. The main purpose of the Meeting was to review the Agenda for the 11th AGM to be held on 21 Mar 16 including the Audit Report for the FY 2014-15, Annual Report of RWSI for FY 2015-16 and the Budget for 2016-17. The meeting also reviewed the preparations made for Heli Power India-2016 scheduled to be held during 21-22 Mar’16 at Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi. The members reviewed the Minutes of 50th GC Meeting held on 01 Sep’15 and passed. The Annual Report for the year 2015-16 was then reviewed and approved including Audit Report for the FY 201415 and the Budget for 2016-17. During the performance review, the Revenue & Expenditure statements for FY2015-16 were compared with the previous year’s performance. The Council was unanimous in making all-out effort in recovering the amount of Rs.11.5 Lac lying outstanding with various customers for the period prior to FY2014-15. It was also decided that if the efforts failed to realize the outstanding amount, the balance of outstanding amount would then be written off as a bad debt against the Society. The proposal was agreed unanimously by all the GC members present in the meeting.

With the resignation of Col (Retd.) KR Sasikumar SM, the Governing Council unanimously approved the nomination of Wg Cdr(Retd.) CD Upadhaya to fill the vacancy. There being no further points, the President thanked all the Members present for sparing their valuable time to attend the Meeting.

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ROTOR INDIA - QE 31 MARCH - 2016

Wg Cdr(Retd.)

CD Upadhaya, An ex President RWSI (Southern Region) was nominated by the GC to fill the vacancy in the council.

<<SALUTE

TO

EXCELLENCE AWARDS>>

Heli Power India-2016 : Salute to Excellence Awards RWSI presents “Salute to Excellence” awards yearly, to recognize the outstanding achievement of individuals in the Civil Helicopter Industry. The winners of the “Salute to Excellence” awards for 2015-16 approved by RWSI Governing Council from the nominations received at RWSI, were facilitated during Heli Power India 2016 held at Air Force Auditorium in New Delhi-10 on 22 March 2016. These Awards were given away by Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation, Govt of India.

Life Time Achievement Award : Lt. Gen. SJS Saighal (Retd.) PVSM AVSM VM Lt. Gen. Saighal was commissioned in the Regiment of Artillery in June 1962.

He has had a checkered career in Army and Civil Aviation covering a span of over 54 years. Lt Gen Saighal got his coveted Aviation wings in 1967, topping his course & was awarded the Silver Auster. He has more than 4000 hours of accident free flying as a pilot both in fixed and rotary wing. During his service career he added the following aviation related achievements to his credit:- (a) He was among the first batch of Army officers to convert to helicopter stream in 1968, & was the first Army officer to do his training on “Tactical Employment of Helicopters “at the Army Aviation School in USA. (b) He commanded the first Air Op Unit in the Western Sector, following the 1971 war. He was the first Army Officer to have been awarded Vayu Sena Medal. (c) Lt. General Saighal did the acceptance trials for induction of Cheetah helicopter in the Indian Army in 1973. (d) As Additional Director General Army Aviation from Jan 1999 to Jan 2001, he was on the Board of Directors of HAL, and inducted of Dhruv helicopter in the Army aviation & it's up gradation to use Shakti aero-engine. (e) He was responsible for implementing the Perspective Plan & Growth of Army Aviation up to 2020. As Master General of Ordnance, he continued to support the growth of Army Aviation After retirement, Lt. Gen Saighal continued his dedicated involvement in Civil Helicopter Aviation Industry. In Aug 2004, he took over as the Chairman of Global Helicopter pvt Ltd. which has made notable contributions as a Civil Aviation Company as follows:- (a) From a six Helicopter Company (out of which only three were in flying condition), Lt. Gen Saighal along with his team increased the helicopters fleet of GVHL to 29 as on date, making it the biggest Private Helicopter Company in the country . (b) Under his able guidance, the Company inducted three new types of helicopters in the country, now much sought after, AS 350B3, Equiril, EC 135 & EC 155. (c) The Company went Public in 2006 and was listed in National Stock Exchange & Mumbai Stock Exchange. (d) He was responsible to put in place Procedures & Practices which have ensured safe & accident free record of the Company. (e) In 2007, under his supervision, GVHL started a new “ On Shore “ division. He also started a new Company “Indocopters” dedicated to MRO activities and established a helibase in Greater Noida. (f) Lt. Gen Saighal has been intimately involved in formulation of Civil Aviation Policies, to facilitate Helicopter Operations in India. He has been frequently consulted by RWSI, DGCA & MOCA for changes in such policies. He has been a Life Member of RWSI since its inception and has supported its cause. For his dedicated positive support & contribution for the advancement of Safe and Secure flying environment Lt General SJS Saighal is conferred with “Life Time Achievement”, award.•

Igor Sikorsky Award : Captain Uday Gelli Captain Uday Gelli was commissioned in 1972 as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force. Subsequently he converted on to the Helicopters. In 1983, he sought voluntary retirement from Air Force, to pursue his passion for flying civil helicopters.

He commenced his civil helicopter flying in Sept 1983 with “OKANAGAN HELICOPTERS". He is one of the first Indian pilots to obtain Dauphin endorsement with IR on his Indian licence. He holds licences issued by DGCA, India, MOT of Canada, DGAC of France and DCA of Qatar. At present he is the CEO of Heligo Charters Private Limited. In the long space of 33 years to the long span in the helicopter Industry, he has worked very hard to develop and inculcate safe and user friendly environment for helicopter flying in India. He is a life member of RWSI, and has served in very senior management posts in leading helicopter companies.

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<<SALUTE

TO

EXCELLENCE AWARDS>>

Some of his important achievements are enumerated as (a) Capt Uday Gelli held important posts spanning over 20 years in Helicopter Companies of UB Air, GESCO, UHPL and Heligo, as Head of Aviation, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer respectively. His pro active involvement in spreading safety awareness in the helicopter community resulted in these Companies accumulating over 70,000 flight hours of accident free flying. (b) He was actively involved in the process of introducing the Bell 212, Sikorsky 76, EC 120 and the civil version of Dhruv into the Indian offshore and civil aviation registry. (c) He played a major role in finding a consensus solutions to various issues related to Airports Authority of India in Juhu airport which resulted in creation of safe air-corridors for helicopters, in the congested air space over Juhu and Mumbai Airports. (d) Bell Textron twice conferred on him the “Outstanding Safety Award" at the Aero India shows in Bengaluru and Hyderabad for achieving the highest safety record in helicopter operations. (e) Capt Uday represented RWSI at the International Federation of Helicopter associations preparations meetings in Feb 2002, March 2003 and Feb 2005 in USA. He has represented RWSI at HAI and the IHST meetings over the last 10 years. (f) He has organized a number of Safety Seminars, Workshops and Training and conducted safety audits classes for spreading safety awareness in the helicopter industry. In view of his strong commitment to the Helicopter Industry, dedication and professional contribution to the growth of RWSI for over 33 years and his outstanding record in safety, Capt Uday Gelli is conferred with “Igor Sikorsky”, award.•

RWSI award for Outstanding Achievements in the Civil Helicopter Industry : Shri R N Johari Shri RN Johari has a vast experience in running a Corporate Business including managing Finances, budgeting, costing, engineering, quality handling contracts etc. In 2006 , he quit his well paid salaried job and opened his own company named as” M/S Aman Aviation & Aerospace Solutions Pvt Ltd” at Mumbai. He worked with zeal and enthusiasm and under his able leadership, within ten years this company has become a recognized brand MRO in Aviation field both as well as overseas customers. The Quality of work and the Turnaround time are the key attributes of his company for its esteemed customers. Apart from this, Aman Aviation is also serving the Defence forces for MRO related work the Manufacturing segment.

Till date Aman Aviation has indigenized around 15 aircraft parts for the Indian Air Force. In the course of its journey of last ten years, he has been accredited with many awards. Some of them are:- (a) Quality Excellence award. (b) Corporate social responsibility- (only carbon neutral MRO in India). (c) Best MRO for component repair- Civil & Military. In addition, the Company, under his leadership, has expanded its activities to Operate and maintain two Robinson R-44 Helicopters. Shri's RN Johari's aim is to make helicopter flights affordable for the common man. Currently he charters these two helicopters for variety of purpose in Mumbai. At present, his company is a Par Excellence MRO Service Provider and helicopter operator in specific segment in the Country in Aviation. Throughout his career he has maintained an Incident/Accident free record while handling small helicopter like Robinson R-44 to Big Helicopter like MI-172. This has been a very remarkable journey for Mr RN Johri and his team. For creating a leading Aviation Company to operate helicopters, maintain, and repair various flying machines efficiently to the complete satisfaction of its customers from both civil and defense sector, Mr. Rajendra N Johri, CMD of Aman Aviation & Aerospace Solutions Pvt Ltd conferred upon with an “Outstanding Achievement in Civil Helicopter Industry” award.•

RWSI award for Outstanding Achievements in the Civil Helicopter Industry : Captain Allan Mark D'Gama Following a distinguished Naval flying career, Captain Allan D'Gama embarked upon his civil flying career in 1999. Initially working in South America, Allan soon returned to India to join Azal Azerbaijan Aviation, later to become Global Vectra Helicorp Limited (GVHL) in 2004. His commitment to the cause of the company and dedication saw him rise in the ranks, becoming Deputy Chief Pilot in 2003.

Allan leads with calm but firm approach to people management, a progressive approach to problem solving and a passion for training. With these traits, he forged ahead the company's operations along with developing a large team of aviators.

Captain Allan's consistency and professional approach got him the coveted Chief Pilot's position in 2007. He has continued to lead from the front to bring a culture of safety, professionalism and accountability to all company team mates. His calm demeanor, with a firm & focused approach create a perfect blend for managing the fragile and volatile business of both flying and personnel management. At the same time, he caters for the inherent flexibility required in the dynamic helicopter industry. His leadership and professional acumen has seen his Company to fly about 1,70,000 Hrs of accident free offshore flying. His immaculate planning and a professional approach to training and operations helped the Company successfully induct the Augusta Westland 139 – the latest work horse of the oil industry. Today Captain Allan is highly regarded as an industry expert and is a well respected figure in the Company, the Industry and with the DGCA. He is also an Instructor/Examiner on Bell 412 and AW 139, and has recently crossed the personal milestone of 10,000 Flight Hours. For his outstanding contribution to Indian civil helicopter industry,

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Captain Allan Mark D’Gama is conferred upon with “Outstanding Achievements in the Civil Helicopter Industry” award.•

HAL Safety Award : Captain M.R. Sai Krishna Vinod Captain M.R. Sai Krishna Vinod (CHPL-1005) has been flying for Dhillon Aviation since 10 Nov 10. He is based at Jagdalpur in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh ever since he joined this company. This district, is notorious for Naxal activity. A number of brutal attacks by Naxals on civilians, security forces and politicians have occupied the national news headlines in the recent past. They have been firing with their weapons at the helicopters involved in providing air support to the state government and civil police. A number of Air Force and BSF helicopters have also been targeted. In his tenure of over five years, he has amassed nearly 2700 hours of flying mainly on Alouette III helicopter (VT-EGP) in single pilot configuration without an incident or accident. By virtue of his dedication, hard work, and following the laid down Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), he has been able to safely elude the naxal threat in the red corridor. In spite of being fired upon thrice at different helipads while approaching for landing or on helipad rescuing casualties, he has been successful in accomplishing the mission without any damage to the helicopter or injury to the personnel. Captain Vinod has been instrumental in saving the lives of many injured/ sick paramilitary personnel in this region during operations.

He has also been instrumental in evacuating two villagers stranded on an island in the river Indravati during flash floods in 2013. For his professionalism, dedication and valuable contribution, he has been commended by DG, CRPF and IG, Chhattisgarh Police. Captain exemplary dedication; bravery and professionalism in the face of extreme personal danger. Captain M.R. Sai Krishna Vinod is conferred with “HAL Safety Award”.•

RWSI Pilot Safety Award : Captain Vijay Prakash Mathur Capt Vijay Prakash Mathur is a highly knowledgeable and professional Pilot with 48 years of flying experience in IAF & Corporate world. He has logged more than 14,000 hrs accident free flying during his long professional career. He is a qualified flying instructor both on fixed and rotary wing aircraft. With over 25 years of Instructional experience on helicopters, he has been involved in carrying out Type conversion of many pilots on Dauphin-variants. He did Rotary Wing Production Test Pilots Course in 1975 and worked as a member of the design and development team during the buildup of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) at HAL, Bangalore.

Besides , he has been an FOI (H) with DGCA. He was also nominated as the DGCA instructor / examiner. Capt Mathur has flown Kiran - Jet Provost, Hunter, Vampire, Harvard, HT-2, Krishak, Auster, Otter, Dakota, HS-748 and HPT-32 fixed wing aircraft.

In respect of helicopters, he has over 12000 hours on Dauphin-N andN3, Alouette III,Lama, MI 8, Equirrel, Bell B2G3 & Robinson - 22. He has flown well over 10000 Hrs in offshore work without an incident/accident. He has also served as Deputy General Manager (Air Safety and operations) in Pawan Hans and has carried out numerous safety audits for DGCA including that of Pawan Hans and MESCO. Capt Mathur has carried out many causality evacuations, search & rescue missions from difficult high altitude locations of Himalayas, Assam, Bengal, Bombay high offshore complex and Island territories of India. RWSI recognises Capt Vijay Mathur's rare feat of logging more than 14000hrs of accident /incident free flying on fixed & Rotary Wing aircraft. RWSI accords due recognition to the achievements of Capt. Vijay Mathur for his professionalism and Safety record by conferring on him the “RWSI Pilot Safety Award”.•

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In recognition of the outstanding voluntary service rendered by RWSI members in handling its activities, “Salute to Excellence” awards were given to its members during Heli Power India-2016 held at Air Force Auditorium in New Delhi-10 on 21 March 2016. These Awards were given away by Major General Kanwal Kumar, Additional Director General, Army Aviation, Army HQs in a well attended function.

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Col. D. K . Chand (Retd.) SM (G) Col. D. K. Chand, is an extremely accomplished and one of the most experienced helicopter pilots with more than 41 years of aviation experience. He is a gallantry award winner was one of the most qualified Army Aviator holding top flying category and IR “A Master Green” and a QFI holding category “A2”. He entered civil aviation in April 1998. With more than 12,000 hours of flying experience in offshore and onshore on all type of terrain and roles, including Siachen Glacier, he has more than 6000hrs of experience as an instructor and more than 6500 hrs of off-shore flying experience. He is also an Ex-DGCA Examiner on BELL 412, and has held DGCA Flight Instructor Rating on Alouette III since July 1998. He is an IRCA certified Internal Auditor and QMS 2000 Internal Auditor. He has completed the QMS and SMS five-day course each conducted by Shape Aviation, U.K. He has contributed immensely to the Aviation Sector, such as preparation of Computer Video Training and Testing program and preparation of the SMS Manual for the pilots of AZAL India Pvt. Ltd. and Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd. He is a regular contributor to the RWSI Rotor Magazine and Seminars and has conducted several seminars/ classes on SMS, CRM, DGR, Emergencies and Helicopter Performance. He also initiated the SMS software – PRISM (Proactive-Reactive-Integrated- Safety Management), in Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd in June 2009. He has been a Ground Training Instructor at RWSI training faculty since 2007 and was elected as a Governing Council Member of RWSI in 2009. In recognition of his praiseworthy efforts and sincerity affecting all the activities of the Rotary Wing Society of India, Col. D.K.Chand conferred with “Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI” award.•

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Gp Capt SK Manocha Gp. Capt. S. K. Manocha is a retired IAF officer, with over 5700 flying hours on piston engine, turbo-prop and jet aircraft, namely, Dakota, Caribou, HS 748, AN-32, AN-26 and Canberra Bomber aircraft as a navigator/ instructor. With his immense knowledge, he has been teaching and training officers, cadets and students alike for over a period of 30 years. He was Awarded “A2” Instructional Category in May 1972 and was the first navigator of the IAF to be trained erstwhile in USSR on AN-32 aircraft. He has developed various Scholastic Computer Solutions and Algorithms like 'NavAtles' a Computer Package or Training Lessons on all Air Navigational subjects for imparting training to CPL and ATPL students and the 'QuiQNav' package, for use by Examiners/ instructors, to assists in quick and accurate formulation of assignments and different types of problems in Flight Planning, ILS related, Pay Load Calculations, Time conversion, Relative Speed, Point of Safe Return, Multiple Leg Critical Point et al.

He is also a Life Member and Navigation Examiner for Aeronautical Society of India. In acknowledgement to the various praiseworthy accomplishments and achievements Gp. Capt. Manocha is conferred with “Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI”, award.•

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Gp Capt M K Labroo Group Captain M K Labroo, FIE, an Aeronautical Engineer and former ISRO Scientist joined the RWSI in January 2004. Ever since, he has made significant contribution towards the conduct of Ground Training & Safety Audits by RWSI. He has conducted a large number of Training capsules on aviation safety subjects such as Dangerous Goods Regulations, Safety Management System, Human Factors, Aircraft Accident Prevention and Aircraft Accident Investigation. He also carried out a number of onshore aviation safety Audits of the operators.

He was elected to the Governing Council of RWSI in May 2009 and nominated as Chairman Engineering Committee and Director Projects during the last GC Election. By Virtue of his deep involvement in the affairs of the Society, he was nominated to handle the responsibility of Treasurer in

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Sep’15. As Chairman Engineering Committee RWSI, he has played and inspirational role in the Society. He has been actively involved in all the activities of the Society, be it the conduct of the training capsules, or organizing National or International Seminars and Workshops, or conduct of Aviation Safety Audits, or publication of Rotor India. On account of his diligence and persuasiveness, he has been able to motivate a number Corporate Members to support the Society. As Treasurer, he has been instrumental in creating a transparent system to maintain the RWSI finances meticulously. In recognition of his dedicated efforts and devotion to promote various activities of the Rotary Wing Society of India, Group Captain M K Labroo is conferred with “Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI”, award.•

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Gp Capt SK Gupta (Retd.) VSM Gp. Capt. S. K. Gupta, VSM, has an exemplary record of having 10240 Hrs of 'Accident Free' flying over 43 years of flying career including 932 Hrs Instructional (Day & Night ) on Helicopters in IAF. A founding Member of RWSI he was also the Honorary Secretary General for the initial 6 years. His outstanding voluntary service in the formative years, helped RWSI a great deal in negotiating various bottlenecks and see growth. He has been a Qualified Flight Instructor and had held Pilot Category/Instrument Rating on Helicopters 'A'/Master Green (VVIP qualified). After 1996 he served in Pawan Hans Ltd followed by Jagson Airlines during which he has flown over 2000 hrs in offshore sector (MI-172 helicopter) at Bombay High as well as, onshore operations in the remote areas like Arunchal Pradesh. He also holds ATPL (H). While in the IAF he was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) by the President of India for Distinguished IAF Service. He is also a recipient of commendation by Govt of Mauritius and the Chief of Air Staff, IAF for meritorious service. Gp Capt Sk Gupta Continues to help with his voluntary serves whenever needed by RWSI. For the exceptional contributions made by Gp. Capt. S .K. Gupta, is conferred with “Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI”, award.•

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Wg Cdr Vijay Prakash Mathur Wg Cdr Vijay Mathur, an NDA alumni and a DSSC Wellington graduate is a highly knowledgeable and professional pilot with 46 years of flying experience in the IAF and the Corporate world. He joined the Rotary Wing Society of India as chief Ground Instructor in April 2013. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor with vast teaching experience in the IAF, HAL, Pawan Hans and Reliance Industries Limited over a long span of 36 years. Wg Cdr Vijay Mathur has also done flying and ground training in the USA and was part of the European Union Sponsored 'Train the Trainers' Programme for duration of 03 months at the Institute of Flight Safety at Paris. As the chief of Training his dedicated efforts improved and accelerated the ground training for pilots and other flying related professionals all over India. The subjects covered by his team include: Crew Resource Management, Procedures Training, Recurrent Training, Special VFR training, Dangerous Goods Training, Safety Management Systems training, Accident Prevention Training, Adverse Weather and Monsoon Training and Offshore Oil Rigs Safety and Confidence Building Measures training.

RWSI accords due recognition to the achievements of Capt. Vijay Mathur for his professionalism and Safety record by conferring on him“Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI” award.•

Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI : Wg Cdr Ramesh Mallik Wg Cdr Ramesh Mallik was commissioned as pilot in the IAF in 1961. He converted to Helicopters in 1963. He has a flying career spanning over five decades and has flown helicopters over eleven thousand hours with the Indian Air force and civilian operators around different parts of the world. He has over six thousand hours of offshore flying in support of oil industry and has conducted offshore operations under diverse weather conditions in areas such as North Sea in extreme cold weather over choppy sea to South China Sea & Mumbai High in hot & humid conditions. Having operated in countries such as UK and Malaysia he has an AVM K Sridharan VM (Retd.), President RWSI handing over immense knowledge on the safety standards, rules &regulations, licensing procedures & the award to Wg Cdr Ramesh Mallik requirements of helicopter flying. He has been conducting ground trainings and lectures at RWSI since-2013 and is also part of the Governing Council since 2010. He has also carried out several Safety Audits of Platforms/ Rigs and Helicopters on behalf of RWSI. In the Indian Air Force he held positions such as Station Flight Safety Officer and Deputy Director VVIP operations in Air Headquarters. He also held CHPL and ALTP(H) from U.K., U.S.A, as well as Malaysia. As an appreciation to his dedicated services to the Aviation Sector Wg Cdr Ramesh Mallik is conferred with “Outstanding Voluntary Contribution to RWSI”, award.•

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