Following the humungous search by several IAF aircraft, the crash site was located the following morning and the remains of the victims recovered. “The IAF was given a task and we successfully achieved it,” Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal PK Barbora said of the rescue efforts.

The search efforts began soon after the Air Headquarters was alerted of the missing helicopter around 1 pm . Two Chetak helicopters from the Helicopter Training School (HTS), Hakimpet near Secunderabad were airborne within half-hour towards Kurnool . Meanwhile, a Mi-8 twinengine helicopter from the Yelahanka airbase that reached Kurnool began search operations by 3 pm .

“Since it was a working day, we had helicopters in readiness and flying. We stopped some of our flying and configured two Chetaks into the casualty evacuation role by fitting stretchers and launched them within 30-minutes,” said Group Captain Rajesh Isser, Commanding Officer, HTS of the quick launch of the helicopters.

With hours quickly passing-by and with no information of the missing helicopter for some time, a Crisis Management Committee (CMC) comprising among others the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Director Intelligence Bureau, was set up. Group Captain Isser represented the Air Force and several other officials also met at Hyderabad to coordinate the search.

Weather was inclement on the day hampering search efforts. The initial search by IAF aircraft were based on inputs and leads provided by state administration and police authorities.

“These were not proving too helpful,” recalls Group Captain Isser. “It was then decided by the Air HQ that Air Force should take charge of the situation and go about it in a manner as it would normally do for its own missing aircraft,” Air Vice Marshal M Bahadur, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Transport & Helicopters), coordinating operations at the Air HQ recounts.

Following the Air HQ directives, HQ Training Command at Bengalore nominated Air Commodore V S Bharti, Air Officer Commanding, Yelahanka to take charge and coordinate all SAR efforts by IAF aircraft from Kurnool . By evening, a Dornier-228 aircraft had already flown a sortie on the route Yelahanka-Cuddappah-Srisailem-Chittoor-Yelahanka for search operations. And by nightfall, two Chetaks, two Mi-8s and two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) formed part of IAF operations at Kurnool .

With weather continuing to be bad and SAR missions not feasible by night, the Air HQ decided to launch two Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with the capability to see through the clouds. SAR helps provide broad-area imaging at high resolutions when mapping the earth’s surface by day-or-night, unaffected by inclement weather besides meeting several high-end classified military objectives on other missions.

The synthetic images obtained were to be analysed by night to help identify and locate the helicopter that by every stretch of imagination was believed to have crashed by then.

To ensure that the two SU 30 MKIs flew for a long time, after their takeoff from Bareilly under the HQ Central Air Command, an IL 78 midair tanker was also flown from its base in Agra to refuel the fighters. One more Su 30 MKI also carried another sortie for about 6-7 hours.

“We scanned nearly 2500 sq km area in rectangular patterns narrowing it down further, “says Wg Cdr K Sundarmani, Flight Commander of Hawks squadron who led one of the Su-30 MKI missions. “Refuelling mid-air by night was a little watchful by all of us owing to inclement weather, thunder, lightning and turbulence all around. We managed several air-to-air refuellings that night without problems,” said the pilot, downplaying their professional acumen of a truly challenging mission.

Meanwhile at the meetings convened by the CMC at the Secretariat in Hyderabad, it was evident to the Air Force member that search on the basis of sketchy inputs were unlikely to yield results. The flight route passed over dense forests including overflying hilly terrain of the Nallamalla forests. It was suggested to narrow down the search to a restricted area of roughly 4 sq km area based on the deduction of the last radar and radio contact that the ill-fated helicopter had with Chennai and Shamshabad air traffic control before losing all contact.

Those familiar with visual piloting and other navigation-related tasks by air or sea will relate to obtaining of a ‘fix’ with the use of navigational aids such as radar bearings. For others, it may help to understand that it is a method to deduce location of an object - moving or stationary, by computing the range and bearing of the object measured by plotting electro-magnetic transmissions or its reflections emanating from radar or a source.

The Chief Minister’s helicopter had obviously left no trails or tell-tale signs to help trace it out. In the absence of such leads even a gargantuan effort could well have served little or no purpose. It was just a quirk of an idea that the ubiquitous mobile phone serving everyday purpose so well could as well provide a clue to the missing helicopter. Mobile network towers that are widespread these days keep an automatic log of their subscriber network profiles of either going out or coming into its network range. In a manner of speaking, they actually leave behind an electronicemission trail.

That four mobiles were known to have been onboard the ill-fated flight was a mere coincidence. And it helped to obtain a general fix of a definitive area by extrapolating the various signal strength data obtained from various service providers in this case.

Based on the tabulations, IAF officials were able to identify a 4 sq km area over which the Su-30 MKIs carried out extensive mapping by night. By morning, the helicopter pilots were provided with a definitive area to begin their search at daybreak.

Training for Search and Rescue

On several occasions IAF carries out search and rescue operations for its downed pilots. In fact, during war-like conditions, combat search and rescue is one of the most demanding and risky operations - miles behind enemy lines. Helicopter pilots undertake these missions with great pride and professionalism; and are trained to carry out such operations with complex equipment and technology. But they are also adept in using their well-honed skills and intuition when all equipment and plans fail.

For example, starting from a most probable last position on ground, a square pattern involves flying an ever-expanding square to cover every inch of ground by all pairs of eyes on board. Pilots spend lifetime learning to recognise tell-tale signs of crashed or force-landed planes in varied terrain like the jungles of Northeast or the snow terrain of Siachen Glacier or the seas off India ’s vast coastline.

Situational awareness however, would rate as perhaps the most important element during such missions, not only for the pilots doing a search mission but also equally importantly for the ground coordination team as well. The control team on ground has access to all real-time inputs from all agencies which include radar tracks, recorded communication between air traffic control and aircraft, visual reports by people on ground and on-board tracking equipment.

The exasperation at the end of the first days search was summed up by the Chetak detachment commander Wg Cdr TNB Singh, “The initial search for the CM’s helicopter over a vast area in bad weather and fading light was like the proverbial looking for a needle-in-the haystack.”

“A call at midnight from Gp Capt Isser to focus on a circle of four Kilometre diameter was a godsend. All the aircrew could hardly get a wink of sleep in their eagerness to take-off by sunrise,” recalls Wg Cdr Singh. In the event a Mi-8 and an ALH got airborne at 06:20 am to resume the search.

Two hours later, at 8:28 am , the Chetak pilots had sighted the crash location. It lay over a hill at coordinates 154714N and 784263E. By 9:20 am, a Mi-8 helicopter slithered down two police commandos that was followed by three more within next ten minutes. By 10:45 am, all bodies were accounted for.

(DPR)