The Maharashtra government is searching for a pilot and co-pilot, as it is left with no qualified personnel to fly its only working aircraft.
Following the crash landing of its only helicopter in Latur last month — Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was on board, but there were no injuries — not only does the state no longer have a working chopper, but pilot and co-pilot, captains Sanjay Karve and Mohit Sharma, are grounded until the Directorate General of Civil Aviation finishes its inquiry and submits its report.
As a result, the government has no pilots to fly its only other aircraft in service, a Cessana Citation 560 XLS. And with the decision to not use private helicopter services during the monsoon, state VIPs on official visits to areas nor covered by commercial airlines are grounded too.
“There is no point in making permanent appointments of pilot and co-pilot until the DGCA inquiry is over,” a senior government official said. “Once we get the final report, we can proceed. Until then, the government requires pilots for its aircraft; hence we will hire them on contractual basis.” He said that the government has asked for names and put out advertisements seeking experienced pilots for VIPs. This process is likely to take over a month, perhaps longer, since new pilots will have to qualify for the conditions to fly VVIPs.
New chopper to be bought
At a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Sumeet Mullick, the government also finalised the decision to buy a new helicopter. The choice of aircraft is likely to be an advanced model of the Sikorski S76, an older model of which was involved in the Latur incident. Experts say that the strength of the chopper helped avert a major tragedy.
The chopper, which will cost nearly ₹90 crore, could take up to a year to be delivered.
