Char Dham chopper services paused after crash as operators reject 2-pilot rule

Operators have informed the DGCA that its directive can't be implemented and that services will remain suspended until it is withdrawn.

In Short

• Operators say reduced passenger capacity and added crew costs destroy viability
• Industry flags inadequate weather monitoring, flight-following systems and uniform minima
• Operations will remain suspended from November 2

Helicopter services across the Char Dham sector will remain suspended from November 2 after operators decided not to comply with a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directive mandating two pilots on charter flights.

The order, issued a day after the October 30 Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter crash, has drawn strong objections from operators, who say it makes commercial operations financially unviable without addressing the actual causes of accidents in the Himalayan region.

Operators have informed the DGCA that the directive cannot be implemented and that services will remain suspended until it is withdrawn. They argue that the helicopters deployed for the pilgrimage routes, including the Airbus AS350/H125 and Bell 407, are single-engine aircraft certified by their manufacturers and aviation authorities for single-pilot operations.

According to the operators, the DGCA itself had validated these certifications when the aircraft were inducted in India. They further claim that countries such as the United States, those in Europe, New Zealand and Nepal permit commercial single-pilot operations of these helicopter types in mountainous terrain, including the Alps, Rockies, Southern Alps and the Nepal Himalayas.

"There is no country on the planet where this is done. India would be the first, and for no reason that anyone has established," a senior helicopter pilot with over two decades of experience in the Himalayas told India Today, requesting anonymity.

The pilot argued that an aircraft could not be ordered to operate in a configuration for which it was never certified.

WHY OPERATORS ARE OBJECTING

The industry has also raised concerns over the financial implications of the directive. The helicopters typically carry one pilot and six passengers. Under the new arrangement, two of the six passenger seats would have to be given up to accommodate a second pilot, reducing the revenue-generating capacity of every flight by one-third. Operators would also have to bear the additional cost of a second crew member.

According to industry sources, helicopters costing between Rs 25 crore and Rs 40 crore were purchased and financed on the basis of single-pilot operations. Operators argue that the aircraft do not have the payload capacity or commercial economics to accommodate two pilots while carrying passengers.

"A single-engine helicopter does not have the payload or the economics to carry two pilots commercially. That is why nobody does it," an industry source said.

Calling the directive a ban on an entire category of aircraft, the source said operators would continue to bear their loan liabilities even as the new arrangement made flights loss-making.

The industry has also questioned the timing of the DGCA order, pointing out that it was issued before the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's investigation into the October 30 crash had begun.

Operators claim that accidents in the sector have been linked to weather, visibility and decision-making rather than single-pilot workload. They have also argued that dual controls are removed before passengers board as a safety practice, ensuring that nobody other than the pilot-in-command can access the controls.

Another concern raised by the industry is the availability of experienced mountain pilots. Operators say India does not have a sufficient pool of pilots with experience in Himalayan helicopter operations to fill the additional cockpit positions. They fear that the directive could result in less experienced pilots being placed in cockpits rather than improving safety.

OPERATORS FLAG GAPS IN SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE

The operators have argued that the DGCA directive does not address several infrastructure and operational shortcomings at Char Dham helipads.

According to them, the helipads lack automated weather stations, flight-following systems and uniform weather minima. They have also flagged the one-helicopter-at-a-time restriction at Jhala and Badrinath, which they say forces crews to clear the helipad quickly even when weather conditions are deteriorating.

An aviation safety expert described the directive as a knee-jerk response that does little to address the underlying risks.

"This is safety on paper. It does nothing about weather, nothing about infrastructure, and nothing about the actual causes of these accidents. It is a knee-jerk reaction dressed up as a safety measure, taken without a study, a risk assessment, or a word with the pilots who fly the sector. It defies basic aviation logic," the expert said.

The operators maintain that improving weather monitoring, flight-following and operational infrastructure should be central to efforts to make helicopter services safer in the Himalayan region.

'WE ARE NOT AGAINST THE DGCA OR THE GOVERNMENT'

Manish Saini, CEO and MD of Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt Ltd, said operators were grieving the loss of the crew and passengers in the October 30 crash and shared the government's objective of making helicopter operations safer. He said the industry had placed its concerns before the authorities with respect, but argued that the two-pilot directive did not take into account how these helicopters were designed and certified.

“Our helicopters are built and certified for one pilot. That is how we bought them, financed them, and how they fly everywhere in the world,” Saini said.

He explained that complying with the order would mean leaving two of the six passenger seats vacant on every flight while also paying for an additional crew member. This, he said, would make the operations financially unviable. “A flight that cannot pay for itself cannot fly. This is not defiance. It is arithmetic.”

Saini said the decision to suspend services from November 2 had been taken with a heavy heart. Operators, he said, would refund passengers with confirmed bookings in full and extend whatever assistance they could. But the consequences would go beyond the disruption to pilgrims' travel plans.

Pointing to the investments made by small operators, many of whom had borrowed money and mortgaged assets to acquire helicopters for the yatra, Saini warned that the order threatened the survival of the entire industry. With no alternative use for these aircraft in the sector, he said, operators would continue to bear their loan obligations even as their revenue stopped.

“We are at a loss today, financially and in spirit,” he said, urging the DGCA and the government not to let the industry die. Saini said operators were willing to support every measure that genuinely improved safety and would return to service once a way forward was found.

- Ends