I

t was a typical flying day. Night flying was planned for the fully ops pilots for routine practice missions in dark phase. After a small chat with the COO following the Met bfg, I got airborne for a procedures sortie. Everything was normal until the rejoin.

Wg Cdr DS Deshpande

Three aircrafts including mine were in the air as I joined circuit. I was no. 3 in landing sequence behind a trainer and a fighter, who were on short finals and base leg respectively. After lowering landing gear, I heard a call of “suspecting tyre burst” from the trainer captain who had just landed. Engrossed with my cockpit actions and planning for the landing, it took me some time to realise what had actually happened, but I promptly raised landing gear and checked my fuel state. Meanwhile, the fighter, who was on short finals was told to go around as the trainer had blocked the runway. From the R/T calls between the ATC, pilot and the crash crew (don’t know why they call them crash crew, should be safety crew), it was apparent that the two of us would have to divert.

After lowering landing gear, I heard a call of “suspecting tyre burst” from the trainer captain who had just landed. Engrossed with my cockpit actions and planning for the landing, it took me some time to realise what had happened but I promptly raised landing gear and checked my fuel state.

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After some confusion as to which base to divert to, we were asked to proceed to XXX, the farther diversion. I checked my fuel, It was 1000 ltrs, sufficient for YYY (the closer diversion) and may be just enough for XXX. The journey to XXX required a mandatory climb to 6 km altitude as it involved crossing the sea (the Gulf of ZZZ). I reluctantly increased power to climb. The other pilot commenced climb behind me. He had about 100-150 ltrs of fuel more than me. I leveled out at 6.5 km and asked Paws (an experienced but junior pilot) to level out at 6 km. We changed over to XXX approach frequency and informed them of the diversion. When asked, I informed my fuel remainder, which was 600 ltrs. On this I received a query “Confirm 600?” It was by a Su-30 pilot in the neighbouring sector! I was ahead of Paws but higher and decided to let Paws position first for the landing. Visibility was good and I could see the glow of XXX city lights from a distance but this was no time to admire the view. Half way over the Gulf, a red warning light glowed in my cockpit; the

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450 ltrs fuel remainder signal. I started positioning long finals for runway AA. As I announced that I would report long finals for runway AA, the approach controller informed me that runway in use was ZZ and not AA. Another decision to be taken. Should I do a visual circuit or a surveillance approach? I remembered what I always professed“unfamiliar base/ bad weather/ emergency on board -take radar assistance”. I opted for the latter and asked for an SRE approach. On hearing my call, the old Su-30 pilot piped up again. “Confirm you want to do an SRE?” He was going nuts in his cockpit hearing these ridiculous fuel figures. His call was taken by the radar controller as a decision that a radar vector was not the best choice. After a while which appeared long enough to me in which no controlling had commenced, I reached over the city. This should be the end of my trouble I thought. But not yet... My ADF and GPS indicated that I was over the airfield but I could not locate the runway. From overhead the airfield at an altitude of 2 km, the airfield was the only dark area in the milieu of a brightly illuminated city. To add to my woes, when I picked up what I thought was the flare path, I saw another one, the cross runway, both of which were lit up! My gyros were literally toppled. There I was – at night over another base, with fuel enough for just over one circuit and runway not in sight. Meanwhile, Paws reached overhead too trying to land at the earliest. So did it result in two ejections or flames out or wrong runway landings or mislandings? No. Paws spotted the flare path, did a teardrop turn and reported right base and landed (the circuit pattern is left hand). I did one orbit over the airfield with my fuel gauge showing 300 ltrs, oriented in 2-D space, turned downwind and landed, knowing fully well that I had only one attempt at landing. Both taxied to a nearby apron and switched off

INDIAN AIR FORCE

with fuel 180 and 250 ltrs. As we walked towards a nearby building, we saw a vehicle stop. It was the ol’ man who had landed just behind us. But instead of meeting us, he headed straight to our ac to see our fuel gauges! Needless to say, he relived (our) horror. All is well that ends well. So why am I telling you this tale, you’d wonder. After all you’ve heard this and few of you’ve done ‘that’ or even scarier things. The reason is – lessons can be learnt even from day to day events which go unreported and undebriefed. So what was it that went wrong? One,after hearing the call of tyre burst,I wasted fuel in doing one full orbit overhead as I assumed the trainer was simulating an emergency which the COO had asked me to simulate. Two, I did not persist with the controller and insist that he complete my surveillance approach. What did I do right? One, I did not panic on seeing the low fuel warning and Two, I showed faith in the surveillance radar and sought assistance when required. Few questions to which I haven’t got answers are: Why did the SRE controller stop vectoring me on hearing my fuel state and hearing ol’ man’s call of “Confirm you want to do SRE?”  Why were both (cross) runways lit up?  Why was another diversion (YYY) not available when the landing fuel was less than that required to divert to XXX?  Did the ol man’s anxious queries help our case? You decide. - Wg Cdr DS Deshpande

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3

Sqn Ldr S Srinidhi

Sqn Ldr Vinayak Sharma

F

inding difficulties in managing peacocks especially during morning and evening hours is a common feature in entire north India. As this bird enjoys special status in India, the modules are to be designed carefully and with sensitivity. Before reaching to any conclusive module following facts are to be understood. Legal Status. The peafowl, Pavo cristatus (Linnaeus), is the national bird of India and provincial bird of the state of Punjab. Hunting of peacocks is banned in India. It is protected

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by parliament statute. These birds are given full protection under the wildlife (protection) Act 1972. Characteristics. The male bird, peacock is characterized with a 2.12m (7.32ft) length, in full breeding plumage. The female bird is known as peahen, which is 86 cm long. These birds are known as member of the pheasant family. Peacock is predominant ground bird, it prefers to remain on ground and fly only for roosting or when threatened. They usually live for about 20 years and has records of living up to 40 years.

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Habitat. This bird is mostly found in the dry semi desert grasslands, scrub, and deciduous forest and feeds on mainly grains, seeds, but also eats insects, fruits, reptiles, berries, figs, leaves and flower parts. They live on ground and generally do not venture out far in the open land. Staying close to shrubs and trees provide an escape from predators. They also follow a routine path over a period of time. Breeding. The peacock maintains a small territory and chooses a part of it for a lek (a gathering of males for the purpose of competitive mating display). Peafowl start reproducing around the age of two years. During the mating season each peafowl may mate up to six different peahens. The Peahen, lay between 4 and 6 light green /Tan eggs in a short period in spring. Their breeding season starts with the monsoon rains. The incubation period is 28 days. A happy peahen will lay more eggs, more often, while a stressed Peahen may not lay any eggs at all, or just one or two only once. A peahen abandons a nest, if she finds too much commotion in the vicinity of her nest. Nesting. The peahen makes a scrape in the ground, lined with sticks, where she lays several light green or tan eggs. She sits on them constantly for about 28 days. Out of every six chicks that hatch, usually only two survive to join the rest of the flock. Mothers leave the nest only once a day, usually flying making a lot of noise, probably to distract predators from the eggs. Daily routine. Peafowl follow a certain daily routine. They roost overnight in large groups in tall, open trees. That way they are safe from predators during the night. In the morning they break up into small groups. In non breeding season there are usually groups of all peacock or all peahens but during breeding season there are groups of one peacock and several peahen or all bachelors. Around mid day, peafowls drink, preen their feathers, and rest in the shade. After

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cooling down, they go back foraging for food, take one last drink and return to their roost for the night. Predators. Peacocks have a number of natural predators in the wild that include wild dogs, fox, coyote, owls, weasels, hawks, cats, raccoons ,black bear ,leopards and even tigers. As peahens nest on ground, they are exposed to predators because they do not leave their nest and if they do, it might be very late. Modules Suggested  Identify the area of roosting of peacocks. Clear the growth of vegetation under the tall trees (shrubs and bushes in these areas) so that the peahens cannot hide their nests from predator.  Feed Cats and dog in these areas from monsoon season so that their presence create stress for peahens and reduce its probability of laying eggs. Peahens generally do not nest away from roosting area.  Play sound of predators e.g. tigers once in a while in the evening and morning, especially in the areas preferred for roosting by peacocks.  Identify the water bodies which these birds visit, in evening for drinking water before proceeding to roost. Positioning even a chowkidar at the frequented place during the period of activity will help immensely. It must be borne in mind that no direct harm should be made to Peacock for the legal status enjoyed by this bird. In-direct measures such as nest and natural predator centric modules should apply to control the menace of peacocks. The above modules can be implemented to manage peacocks where ever such menace is encountered.

- Sqn Ldr Vinayak Sharma and Sqn Ldr S Srinidhi

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5

Air Cmde A Subramaniam

I

was having dinner the other night with an exparatrooper friend of mine who now handles Risk Management for one of the Global IT majors. For most of the evening, he was on a conference call with the Canadian Police and an international organisation called SOS, trying to fix up the repatriation of the body of a young software engineer on an off shore project who hung himself, possibly due to stress, loneliness and other symptoms that are commonly called as classic ingredients of the ‘No Way Out Syndrome’. As the evening progressed, I had the opportunity to look through some of his e-mails to his brother. The contents were sad and chilling to say the least. Let’s call the techie X and his brother Y.

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X: Anna (brother in most South Indian languages), I am feeling low and want to talk to you. Y: What time is it dude! Get some sleep. X; Anna, I can’t sleep-I went to the Department store and wasted $80 on provisions that I don’t even need. I do not know what is happening to me. Y: I am busy yaar-don’t bug me. Get some sleep. X: I can’t sleep-I do not know what is happening to me. Everyone else is so smart at office. I need to talk to you. Last time I felt good when I spoke to you. Y: Shut the f------ up and go to sleep. Be a man and pull up your socks. X: ( Next morning) Anna-I am feeling better-slept a while-have sorted things out.

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The boy hung himself that evening!! I know that this morbid tale was not a very pleasant way to ring in the new year, but it reflected on some typical stresses of our times that all of us need to reflect on. We in the IAF can consider ourselves damn lucky that compared to the stressful corporate world, we have a set up that is based on community living, team work and group dynamics that positively impact not only our professional lives, but also our personal lives. We mostly live in camps and cantonments, breathe fresh air and lead relatively insulated and protected lives. In recent times however, environmental stress, financial pressures, family commitments, unrealistic professional expectations and a host of other stressors are manifesting themselves in our daily lives in various forms, We hear of cardiac problems and diabetes at ridiculously young ages, increased marital conflict and other psychosomatic disorders. There is an urgent need to look at these as a great danger to Flight Safety in particular, and to our unique way of life in general. Having gone through a fair amount of professional and personal stress over the years myself ( and I daresay that most people of my age and service would have experienced the same), I have always strived to understand it and share whatever thoughts came my way in various formal and informal forums. Let us face it! Stress in military service is inevitable, particularly so when the safety of human lives and expensive equipment is at stake, be it in peace or conflict. Therefore, the first step in effective stress management is to face it headlong and not run away from it. Typical responses or attitudes that reflect an individual or team that displays this approach are-:

 So what if I/we have not succeeded this timeLet us try again---- and so on. There are so many positive statements and actions that can make adversity seem trivial and surmountable. The second step in my lexicon that has particularly helped during my leadership assignments has been the process of leveraging the benefits of ‘positive stress’ for both organisational and personal growth, while at the same time mitigating and restricting the negative impact of stress on the individual and the team. However, this is where things can get tricky as the onus of separating the’ good stress’ from the ‘bad stress’ rests largely with the leader. How much to push, when to push and whom to push are extremely critical. My last primer relates to the effectiveness of a ‘people centric and informal approach’ to stress management as against a more formal counsellor and therapy driven approach that is gaining popularity. While I am not discounting the importance of such formal mechanisms, I would still reiterate the effectiveness of the former in acting as our first line of defence. It is in this context that I would urge our younger air warriors to talk to their friends, colleagues and seniors about their problems, however trivial they may seem to be. I would also suggest to our leaders in the field to devote more time to lending a patient hearing to those in distress; it will always be time well spent! The two main impediments to this approach are current trends of ‘protecting privacy’ amongst the younger generation and the reluctance of many in my generation to shift focus from upward mobility and climbing the pyramid to helping others solve their problems. We need to reflect more on such issues if we want to run an organisation that is battle worthy, effective, efficient and empathetic.

 A can do attitude  We have a problem-Let’s tackle it-or ‘We have made a mistake-Let’s move on after facing the consequences squarely.

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So Go on Talk to Someone about Anything that is Worrying you-Anytime—It helps. - Air Cmde A Subramaniam

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Flt Lt RK Kulkarni

What Happened? Two Chetak helicopters were starting up for a buddy role sortie to drop load from A to B somewhere in the Western Sector. The Captain of the detachment with almost 4000 hours of flying was in the lead aircraft while I, a relatively inexperienced officer in the business of aviation was the copilot. As I completed the

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startup, I couldn’t help but notice the captain hurrying through the rest of the checks and procedures at an unimaginable pace. I could see something was amiss, but the promise of a hearty lunch at the next base cluttered my conscience to prompt him to delay any further. Murphy came in uninvited as usual, as the ATC asked us to expedite takeoff since fighters were rejoining and we were lined up very close to the runway. Rotors engaged, vital actions hurried through

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and putting brakes off, the two of us were all ready to lead away to glory.

vital checks on the aircraft engine and airframe were carried out. Nothing unusual was found but it’s always better that certain checks done today could well prevent further embarrassments.

For the readers not familiar with Chetak helicopter, it has a beautiful sound emanating from its one and only engine and everybody knows that Why it Happened? if the engine changes its music to a lower beat, you are in for a ‘BIG’ trouble. And voila, as soon as we The crew members of the detachment were initiated pickup, there was a sudden drop in engine on a ‘Op Area Recce’ and had put in long working noise. To my utter horror, as I looked at the Collective hours, coupled with the beating down Sun, the Pitch Indicator and saw that it was pulled up to fatigue levels were reaching their limits. almost more than 1.00. I narrowed my vision on to the JPT gauge expecting a shoot up, but my vision Although the copilot was relatively blanked out because then the helicopter started inexperienced, he should have followed up on wobbling, crawling and did all the hiccupy hoots it the checks and procedures. could do to stay on the ground. All this happened within a second or two and all The sortie could have been it had a I can remember was me shouting,” Sir, planned in time so as to give beautiful sound Collective, Collective”. He promptly enough time for briefing of emanating from its put it down and got the aircraft to crewmembers. one and only engine and a halt on the runway. everybody knows that if Since Fighters were the engine changes its music For a minute or so, nothing rejoining at the base, to a lower beat, you are in for a moved. Then both of us ATC should have ‘BIG’ trouble. And voila, as soon looked at each other and our delayed the takeoff as we initiated pickup, there was a gaze followed onto the one of the helicopter. sudden drop in engine noise. To “Mother of all Warning lights”, my utter horror, as I looked at the FFCL (Fuel Flow Control Suggestions to the Collective Pitch Indicator Lever) warning light shining Preclude Recurrence and saw that it was pulled brightly only to realize that the FFCL up to almost more than  CRM aspects need to had slipped back. This was what had 1.00. caused the engine and rotor RPM to be properly discussed and drop. Nonetheless, it would have been implemented especially in a more disastrous had we already taken off multi crew cockpit. or were coming in for a landing.  Cone of responsibility of every crewmember Prudent behavior on our part after experiencing should be detailed and adhered to as briefed. such a severe case of overtorqueing would have been to switch off and get the engine checked. But  Experience level should not be abused and lo, my “l-know-everything” captain nonchalantly put peer pressure in the cockpit should be avoided. the FFCL lever back into its slot and resumed with the sortie profile.  It should be remembered that there are no alternatives to following SOP’s and all violations The aircraft has flown extensively after that and should be reported and acted upon. fortunately nothing untoward happened to it but who knows! Soon this was discussed at unit level and - Flt Lt RK Kulkarni

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Wg Cdr GS Bishen

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What is SA?

 Feeling Rushed

Situational awareness is an accurate perception of the factors and conditions affecting your task or operation, now and in the future keeping ahead of the task and monitoring the bigger picture.

 Narrowing of task focus

It involves perceiving what is going on around you, understanding what this means and projecting forward to anticipate what will happen next. Situational awareness can be individual, interteam or intrateam. Improving SA In developing situational awareness during a task, we must start off with an accurate knowledge of the system or environment status. We must consider our intended actions and its appropriateness in the circumstances. Also, try to anticipate (and discuss) what the negative outcomes could be. And lastly, we must understand how our actions might effect our operation, the larger environment and other people. Once we have an adequate level of situational awareness the next task is to maintain it. Constant review of available data against our understanding is essential to maintaining situational awareness. A head-down focus on specific elements of a task at the expense of all other information will not allow a good level of overall situational awareness to be maintained. Effective communication ensures the transfer of appropriate information in order to allow for better checking of facts against understanding. How do you know when your situational awareness is degraded?

 Increasing anxiety, or gut feeling - if it doesn't feel right. Loss of, or degraded situational awareness is a key factor in many incidents/ accidents. Recovery from it (once it has been detected) must be a deliberate and careful process. Do not carry on and try to understand at any cost - it is also very difficult to change your perception, once you have arrived at an understanding. Increased confusion may result from attempts to understand a problem while still trying to complete the task. Debrief what happened. Lessons learnt are valuable information to prevent others from repeating the same mistakes. Accurate don'ts:-

situational

awareness

do`s

and

 Assume nothing - always confirm your understanding from fact  Maintain constant and appropriate levels of communication  Do not focus in on any one single element of a task to the exclusion of everything else.  If it feels wrong it probably is,  If situational awareness is degraded to the point where it could effect safety - stop and check and / communicate to get help from all possible players.  Safe flight = safe height / safe track /safe airspeed / safe configuration.

 Confusion  Unexpected results

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- Wg Cdr GS Bishen

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Gp Capt Narinder Taneja

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I

was indeed taken aback with this experienceIs it an “it’s not my baby” syndrome? This not at one, not two but three flying bases may lead one to believe that safety is the prime I visited in quick succession recently. I had responsibility of the erstwhile SF&SIO and now been on Senior Adviser in Aviation Medicine the SA&SIO and his team of serving personnel visits to these bases. As part of the visit I was and casual labour. This thinking may be evident giving a talk on HFACS and Human Factors in if one was to ask personnel across a cross section Aircraft Accidents: a topic I love to speak about, of trades/ branches as to what was their role and in particular with an audience with interest in contribution to flight safety? safety. As an icebreaker so to say, to start my talk, I do ask people to tell me about something Let me try and discuss some imaginary related to safety. And I asked them to tell me scenarios to elaborate my belief that this lack the accident rate of the IAF. I couldn’t believe of interest may be due to the ‘It’s not my baby that not one individual (aircrew / ground crew) syndrome’. Location: SMC. Medical assistant in could tell me the correct figure! Very few were charge of medical stores is working on a typical even aware of the denominator, including some busy working day. One technician comes to him of those guessing the above numerator figures. with a prescription slip for himself, (could be for I expressed my disbelief to all of them. his pregnant wife, for his ailing parents or I How is it that the lot of Air Warriors worst of all emotionally for his newly can buy these were so carefree, not even born child) for some medicines to from the market, but.... I concerned and aware about be purchased locally. The Med/ have to report to the squadron the incident/accident rates Asst tells him that he will get on duty....and the pending work that the organisation is so the medicines after two days ...and the flying programme.... can determined and committed (believe me, it is possible in to bring down? Why were he go quickly to the market...buy the some SMCs / hospitals). The they not concerned? medicines drop them home... and then technician is taken aback. If May be they are! But my make it to the squadron just in time.... the child or his family is sick inference and bottom line is The face of his ill child or parents and they have been prescribed comes to his mind.... Decides he - if you are not even aware of medicines, what’s the logic in will buy the medicines what is the accident rate that getting them after two days? we are trying to bring down, or The treating MO not being very a figure which tells you how safe we approachable, this technician is reluctant have been over a period- how and where to go back to the MO and ask again. He does will the passion come to achieve higher levels of some mental reasoning. I can buy these from the safety and see the graph come down. market, but.... I have to report to the squadron on duty....and the pending work ...and the flying This ignorance is all the more stark given programme.... can he go quickly to the market... the fact that we have aerospace safety brief buy the medicines drop them home... and then everyday along with a weekly brief in detail that make it to the squadron just in time.... The face of depicts these accidents rates for the IAF and the his ill child or parents comes to his mind.... Decides Command and then talks about all the accidents he will buy the medicines himself... over speeds in / incidents that may have occurred during that his two- wheeler... reaches the chemist shop... is week. How could these not register in not one, not told that the cost of two days medicines is Rs 500. two but scores of aircrew across three stations? I He checks his wallet and all his pockets... barely am yet to fathom the cause for such an attitude manages to put together Rs 300 .. .buys one day but will try and put forward some explanations medicine.. ..curses the medical assistant,...MO,1... that may sound plausible and acceptable. SMC,...medical services.... takes the medicines

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- drops them home...but forgets to explain the dosage of the medicines to his wife, and in double fast speed reaches back to the squadron... is 15 minutes late.... immediately assumes duty after getting a big shout from his supervisor and gets going with the work on the aircraft. When the aircraft goes for a ground run in the evening, there is a screeching sound and the technician remarks: Oh !! I left a spanner inside. Imaginary, but possible. When the medical assistant is asked about his role in Flight Safety, his answer : How are LP medicines for a child connected to flight safety? You ask the treating MO. Why did he not prescribe medicines that were available in the SMC? Simple answer- these were better? But was he aware that the procedure took three days? No, that’s SMO responsibility. Any relation with flight safety? You must be joking? Ask the SMO? Simple answer... The procedure takes that much time. MOs should be aware of what is available in the SMC, and my doors are always open for everyone if anyone has a problem! Flight Safety: how do medicines prescribed for a baby affect flight safety- these are remote, absolute remote connections! The same scenario can be visualised in any other section- Accounts, Admin, Engineering services, Logistics etc. Claims processed late, individuals with financial responsibilities, PORs not taken, advances delayed, clothing not available,

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accommodation deficient, accommodation complaints not attended to promptly and efficiently and so on... the list can be endless. We can think of a whole lot of activities in every section. The affected individual is obviously not at peace with himself mentally where he can give his 100% to the ‘aircraft’ task. And if we were to ask the host individual if any of these were related to flight safety- we will definitely get surprised and bemused look! But as elaborated in detail above, they all have the potential to adversely affect flight safety. I am sure that all these individuals will tell us that flight safety relates to ‘flight’ and ‘flying’. There is a section dedicated for this and they are so spatially and temporally distant from the aircraft and the runway, how could they possibly adversely influence flight safety. A typical ‘it’s not my baby ‘it’s his baby syndrome’. This needs to change. Flight safety activities within the organisation at all levels need to take an ‘inclusive’ look and approach rather than being considered as an ‘exclusive’ directorate, section activity at all levels. Flight Safety has to become ‘everyone’s’ baby. Why should flight safety become ‘our’ baby? We need to bring/inculcate the ‘our’ concept because of the critical significance of a mind free from worries when operating in/ near an aircraft.

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Could this daily briefing incorporate some innovative concepts. It could be a picture of the area depicting before and after condition, may be a picture of the equipment used in maintaining the aerodrome clean, may be a picture of the man operating these equipment, may be highlighting the importance of each activity, may be the quantum of work and work analysis in terms of man hours, may be a flight safety thought for the day, may be some interesting feature covered by ASIO/MSIO. From the MTD in the aircraft manoeuvring area, to the technician working on the aircraft, to the pilot who occupies the seat in the cockpit, to the technicians working on the aircraft in the hangars to the air traffic personnel and the bird watchers—each one of them needs to be able to give his one hundred percent to the job on the aircraft- and for that, every individual in the station, in every task he is doing, has to contribute towards safety- by ensuring that he does not add in any way to the worries of the individual directly connected with aviation activities- by conveying to them that flight safety is ‘our ‘ baby and that ‘we care ‘ for him. Is this change possible? Can we bring about a change where flight safety becomes ‘our baby’ for everyone, where every individual in the IAF thinks flight safety in whatever he/she does? Yes, we can. In the next few paragraphs I will try and suggest some steps that we can take to try and possibly bring about these changes. Firstly, the daily flight safety briefing. Are they too drab and monotonous, such that while we listen yet do not perceive either the content or any obvious changes in the data and their flight safety implications, e.g., a typical flight safety briefing daily would cover the labour/ work deployment of the previous day, work status

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and work planned for that day. At the most, of interest only to the AOC, CEngO, CADMO is the availability/ serviceability of the jungle jims and the manpower available/not available. Could this daily briefing incorporate some innovative concepts. It could be a picture of the area depicting before and after condition, may be a picture of the equipment used in maintaining the aerodrome clean, may be a picture of the man operating these equipment, may be highlighting the importance of each activity, may be the quantum of work and work analysis in terms of man hours, may be a flight safety thought for the day, may be some interesting feature covered by ASIO/MSIO. If not daily, atleast on a regular/ periodic interval. These are simple steps which can be implemented and I feel can have definite impact on the awareness about flight safety activities in a station. Not that some of these are not done, they need to be done in a way ‘to involve’ the audience. Similarly, the weekly flight safety briefing conducted in most stations cover the accident or incident rates and a brief narrative circulated about the event is read out. All these can be made more interesting or interactive, possibly by asking questions from the audience, the significance/ implication of the incident that have occurred, and again some thought for the week. If the incident rate within the command is showing an upward trend compared to previous years or

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other commands, the flight safety officer could provide some insights into the possible causes and measures adopted towards ensuring safe flying in the station. I have seen some Commanders asking the youngsters the relevance / learning value for them from the incidents occurring at another station. If not done, they merely become a drab affair. Although this will require extra effort on the part of safety section but I personally feel that this will pay off in the long run as far as flight safety is concerned. Station flight safety activities beyond the routine. There is no doubt that the flight safety personnel at a station are engaged in a lot of activities and any suggestion for out of the routine activities will meet with a lot of resistance. Of the routine activities that are conducted at a station and those that consume a lot of manhours are the ‘cleaning’ and ‘housekeeping’ activities and preparation and display of posters. Occasional poster competitions are held. Let’s say we have a quarterly quiz for personnel on the contents of flight safety magazine with prizes thrown in as incentives. Such an activity will serve dual purpose- firstly, enhance the awareness among people about special flight safety features and secondly increase the readership of flight safety magazine which no doubt is a very educative tool/ component of the entire flight safety programme.

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We could also have essay competitions, debates, a dedicated flight safety week/ fortnight to observe flight safety activities on a larger scale. Again, involve each section (which we do by the way of flight safety theme of the month), give each section some funds to design innovative material with regard to flight safety pertaining to that section. And then let their section outline/ discuss what they did in the ensuing flight safety meeting rather than just putting across what they did on a power point slide, which as it is does not register in a whole lot of cases. Let me give an example. The flight safety theme for the month of April 10 was ‘Medical Boards and Exams’. At our SMC we sincerely put in efforts towards achieving some of the key areas that were circulated from Command HQ. Beyond those, we carried out an audit/ workflow analysis of our medical boards. We introduced an integrated investigation form for patients with hypertension which replaced 5 different forms. No big deal some may say!! But when you have 100 odd cases of hypertension who need these forms quarterly/yearly, we will definitely save time/ manhours both for the med/asst and the patient. Even the small savings are cumulatively huge. After all, HDFC bank wants you to withdraw cash from ATM 40% faster and imagine the time saved??? Yet, when I put across the work done for the month on a power point slide the whole meaning/ implication of this achievement was lost. No one really understood what we meant. May be if I had explained this, a whole lot of other officers would have gone back to their workplace and tried to analyse their work processes. After all, we do learn from each other. Similarly, if one of the engineering subsection came up with some innovative way of housekeeping/ cleanliness/ antiskid methods in the hangers/ accounting of tools etc, these would have implications across all sections and can be adopted once explained in detail rather than as a single bullet point on a ‘busy’ slide.

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become the new face of flight safety in the station. Flight safety will become their baby, when they’ll see their names along with the slogan, they will put that into practice, motivate others to do, and will think more about flight safety - thus making flight safety an ‘our’ concept.

Special professionally publicity material

designed

/videos/

Everyone will agree that flight safety should largely be a preventive effort-cleanliness/ maintenance all directed to prevent FOD/ incidents. The flight safety people do prepare interesting slogans/ publicity material, but there has been a distinct lack of any ‘catchy slogans or focused sustained campaign that would attract and retain client/ user interest. Probably, we need the services of a specialised professional agency to do this for us. I have yet to see a flight safety video of the IAF with which we all can relate to. I still remember the impact, Mission Udaan video had on me when I first saw it and continues to have the same impact even now. Such jobs are best done by experts in their own fields. Another thought which comes to mind. Every station has flight safety slogans painted on the wall, glow signs, flexi boards - where do these come from? Honestly I don’t know- but I guess either from the flight safety directorate, CFSIO, SFSIO, or picked up from magazines from other air forces or now easily from the internet. How about inviting each air warrior to submit flight safety slogans? Those selected, should be painted in the station along with the contributor’s nameand then updated every three /six months. In this way, a whole new breed of air warriors, incognito and not connected with flight safety so far, will

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We will also get inclusive by involving more and more people in any safety related programme in the station. We know from experience that OHR boxes / HEVOLREP boxes are grossly underutilised. Let’s get together people to complete a questionnaire form with their thoughts on the existing flight safety activities - their opinions, their role, their involvement and the good and bad of the existing activities and how to improve them. Questionnaire forms when left for people to complete and submit generally do not produce a good/ satisfactory response rate. But when made to sit down as a collective activity and permitting it to be anonymous, the response can be pretty positive. I am confident that such an activity will provide us with valuable insights on the thinking of the ‘common man’ as far as flight safety is concernedthe young medical asst or the admin asst who may consider himself to be remote from any iota of flight safety will suddenly be involved. We will be successful in getting views from our clients. We were successful in doing so, by soliciting collective feedback from patients on our system and services at SMC (which we always believed were of a very high order): a reality check so to say. Bringing the change from ‘his’ to ‘our’ is not going to be easy or happen overnight. After all we are giving each air warrior something additional to think about! A conscious effort has to be made which in the long run becomes natural to each one of us. Whether at home or office, eventually safety will become our baby!!! - Gp Capt Narinder Taneja

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Blast From The Past

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his is a recorded interview on location between a fighter pilot (FP) and a staff officer (SO). Any semblance to questions that may have been asked before and answers that might have been given are purely coincidental. The Author reserves the right not to be quoted.

F.P. Recently, a lot of restrictions on drinking, bar timings and flying have come into force. Why the sudden clamp down and caution? After all, the majority of us spend Rs 75’/- per month (enough to keep a convent girl sober at current rates) and all the stuff that is filtered through our livers has the ISI stamp.

F.P. What do you mean by supervision? S.O. Well, to cut a long story short the dictionary defines supervision as ‘the act of inspection or control’. Since the emphasis is on the word act, ‘it really means that under the act you are all liable to be blamed for lack of it. F.P. What is meant by motivation? S.O. It is that quality in an individual to ascend the ladder of progress himself, and once he reaches a particular level the service thereafter provides it. F.P. What is meant by judgement? S.O. It is a rare quality to be seldom found in bad officers and abundantly found in good officers. Fine judgment is to differentiate between these two categories. F.P. Why are the procedures for nearly everything in the service so complicated and laborious. S.O. Because fella, if something goes wrong it will be difficult to find the culprit. F.P. Our accident rates are calculated for 10,000 hrs flying and given as a rate per 10,000 hrs. Please explain. S.O. Some bright Johnny, said if you can fly 10,000 hrs and not have a single accident you are 100% safe. The very next sortie after completing 10,000 hrs he crashed and killed himself. We’ve maintained this figure to his memory.

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S.O. You know the old-adage ‘the best cure for a hangover is to stay drunk’. Well those days are behind us now. To ensure that our aircrew maintain sober habits without actually enforcing total prohibition, we have laid down all these restrictions, I’m sure you have read all the articles on ‘Flying and Alcohol’. Stick to them son! its your best insurance for a longer life. F.P. Don’t you think that if a more liberal policy was followed like laying down guide lines and conducting seminars on the evil effects of drinking rather than imposing restrictions, it would have a more profound effect? After all its human nature to break rules and delve into the unknown. S.O. A point there. We are looking into that aspect also. F.P And finally, I was just wondering whether there is any career planning for aircrew. Notwithstanding the ‘P’ Staff Forum what is the function of the Career Planning Cell? S.O. A very sore and touchy point. But to answer your question in a nutshell. For the first 20 years of your career you are on your own. The next 10 years we start planning your career and by the time a career is planned for you, you are about to retire. Its still better than some other countries I know! - Reproduced From the SAFETY JOURNAL published in SEP 1975 written by PEG

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LAC AK Singh

L

ife in Communication Flights (Com Flt) is considered to be very peaceful. It is assigned to convey VIPs and top IAF officials to different places on official tours/ visits.Thus, the serviceability of the aircraft for these commitments becomes paramount. Any unservicability (whether technical or manual) at the last moment, hampers the commitment and puts the STO and DSS personnel, in a spin. One such incident that took place in the Communication Flight is worth mentioning.

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An AVRO aircraft was planned to take off at 0700 hrs to Delhi with a VIP onboard. For this, the early party gang was detailed to report at 0400 hrs. All the tradesman including the SNCO i/c and the WO i/c were busy doing their job in order to make two VIP aircraft serviceable by 0600 hrs; one as main and the other as standby. An airframe tradesman, during the Dl of No. 1 VIP aircraft noticed that the main accumulator pressure of the aircraft was under-reading. He immediately brought the air charging cylinder to charge the accumulator but

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The poor airframe tradesman then ran towards the hanger to change over from overhaul to uniform as VIP see off is done in uniform. By the time, he reached the Bay in uniform, the VIP had already arrived. The technician immediately put on his marshalling jacket and was ready with his marshalling bats. unfortunately found that there was inadequate pressure in the cylinder. He reported this to the SNCO i/c of the aircraft. The SNCO i/c detailed other tradesmen, who had completed their Dl, to load a new cylinder on trolley from a distant place and bring it to the aircraft. It was done and the No. 1 VIP aircraft was made serviceable by 0545 hrs. The WO i/c then informed the tradesmen to carry out Dl of the No. 2 aircraft too. The airframe tradesman while doing the Dl was asked to hastily finish the Dl as he was required to ‘man’ the brake of No. 1 VIP aircraft which was being shifted to Bay No. 1 for VIP see-off. He quickly finished his job and proceeded for shifting the No.1 aircraft. By the time the aircraft was positioned in Bay No. 1, it was 0630 hrs. The poor airframe tradesman then ran towards the hanger to change from overhaul to uniform as VIP see-off is done in uniform. By the time, he reached the Bay in uniform, the VIP had already arrived. The technician immediately put on his marshalling jacket and was ready with his marshalling bats. The Co-pilot, Navigator and the ground crew were already inside the aircraft. The Captain and COO of the station were outside to receive the VIP.

the aircraft and took out the jury pins which were attached with the florescent ribbons from the three oleo legs. These jury pins act as a safety measure to prevent the three oleo legs from retracting on the ground. Before flight, they must be removed or else, the oleo legs will not retract in the air. The airframe tradesman by this time realized his blunder. He was responsible for taking out the jury pins before takeoff and placing them inside the aircraft. Had the aircraft departed with the jury pins intact, the undercarriages would not have retracted. As a result, the aircraft would have had to make an unwanted landing and thus delay the commitment. After the aircraft finally departed everyone began questioning the airframe tradesman and sought for his statement. Why it happened?: Numerous hurried jobs arising in quick succession.  Arrival of the VIP before the stipulated time.  Build up of unwarranted stress technician.

on the

Lesson learnt:When the VIP boarded the aircraft the engines were started as per SOP. After the warm up checks, the aircraft was ready for departure. The marshaller signalled the Captain to taxi-out. Everyone could hear the increase in engine power as the throttle was increased. Suddenly three fluorescent ribbons began to flutter, one behind the nose oleo leg and the other two behind the main oleo legs. The COO noticed it and immediately ran to the marshaller to tell him about this. The marshaller prompltly signalled the Captain to stop. The SNCO i/c ran to

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 In stress, whatever is seen by an individual may not draw adequate response from the brain.  All checks and procedures must be done meticulously.  Supervisors must ensure no unwarranted stress accumulates on their technicians. - LAC AK Singh

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In aviation’s early days, pilots flew by the “seat of their pants.” They trusted their eyes and gut feelings, even though doing so sometimes killed them, especially when vertigo set in at night or during bad weather. Such loss of equilibrium was considered part of the business, a rite of passage that fliers just had to handle. Till date, Spatial Disorientation (SD) remains the numero uno stressor in aviation. It has costed many a lives and aircraft. It is for this reason that the maximal use of ground- based SD training devices is encouraged for the physiological training of pilots.

Sqn Ldr Juhi Borgohain

The story of invention of Disorientation Simulators is something that is quite interesting. Do you know who invented the SD Simulator? Well, it was none other than a pilot himself! Colonel William Charles Ocker, also known as the “Father of Blind Flying” was a veteran pilot in the US Army in 1920s. In World War I, he had known many competent fliers who became disoriented and died needlessly; he himself had narrowly escaped death when lost in the clouds with no visibility, he discovered that the flight indicator showed his plane in a turn while his senses told him he was straight and level. The confusion sent him into a spiral dive: emerging from the clouds, he had just enough time to regain control. Ocker, rather than blaming the instruments understood that, despite his training and experience, his pilot instincts had failed him.

T

he story of disorientation is as old as the origin of the word ‘pilot’ itself. Well, the word pilot is derived from the name ‘Pilatre de Rozier’ - the first person to fly. Pilatre flew in a hot air balloon launched by the Montgolfier brothers of France in 1783. He is said to have had a feeling of disorientation during his first free floating balloon flight across Paris.

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Throughout his career, Ocker remained haunted by his close call and the reasons why it happened. Years later, a routine physical exam by a flight surgeon, Capt. David Myers, provided him with some answer. Dr. Myers sat Ocker in a Barany chair, a swiveling, spinning seat designed to measure a person’s sense of balance and equilibrium, and challenged him to take the exam with his eyes closed. Ocker discovered that when robbed of visual cues he couldn’t tell whether the chair was spinning or stationary, or even what direction he turned. Myers had re-created the same disorientation that Ocker had once experienced in the clouds.

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Ocker devised a way to beat Myers’s test by rigging a turn indicator and penlight inside a covered shoe box with a viewing hole cut in one end. Seated in the chair, he held the box up to his face and watched only the instrument. Even though he was “flying blind,” he could now tell Myers precisely which way he moved and how fast. Ocker had proved that conflict can exist between a pilot’s subjective perceptions and the readings of his instruments—and that he should trust the instruments, not his instincts, when that occurred. Ocker perfected his “Ocker box,” adding standard aircraft instrumentation such as a compass and artificial horizon, so that pilots could use the box in conjunction with the Barany chair as a training device. Even the most experienced aviators could not help but be convinced after a spin in Ocker’s rudimentary flight simulator. Ocker contributed tremendously to improve flight safety by researching pilot disorientation during poor-visibility conditions. He was the pioneer of instrument flying. Indeed, he rides with every pilot who relies on instruments to find the way home! SD Demonstrators Over the years, the significant advances in aviation have challenged the medical profession to help protect the health and safety of the pilots. The research and development in the field of spatial disorientation have led to the emergence of latest generation SD demonstrators e.g., the one at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine and AMTC. These devices use somatogyral and somatogravic vestibular illusions, as well as focal and ambient visual illusions to create disorientation in the trainee, who “flies” the cockpit by reference to flight instruments.

SD is not easy, however. Physiological training and the knowledge of how to do a good instrument cross-check is the main weapon against SD at the disposal of the pilot, and the flight surgeon/ aviation medical examiner. The emphasis to pilots is on a two stage approach for preventing disorientation mishaps. First, the pilot must be aware that he is having a problem holding altitude or heading. This cannot be done if he is concentrating on something other than the flight instruments, e.g., the radar scope. Minimize the likelihood of SD by monitoring frequently and systematically the critical flight parameters (bank, pitch, vertical velocity, and altitude); conversely, expect to become disoriented if attention to these flight parameters is allowed to lapse due to misprioritization of tasks at hand. A proper flight training is must to appreciate the need for appropriate task prioritization and to instil the discipline of continuous instrument cross-check. Second, when disorientation does occur, recognize it as such and act.This ability is promoted through physiological training that provides an experience of conflicting orientation cues. Earlier the standard advice was to believe the instruments. Now the advice is to “make the instruments read right”, regardless of sensation. Education to pilots on the subject of SD emphasizes on (a) avoid disorientation by making frequent instrument cross-checks, and (b) recover from disorientation by making the instruments read right. The profound and pervasive influence of our orientation senses in aerospace operations cannot be ignored; through knowledge and understanding, however, it can be controlled. Pilots can meet the demands of the environment and function effectively if they are trained and prepared.

Education and Training Happy Soarings !! If a disoriented pilot recognises his predicament, he is well along the road to recovery. Recognising

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- Sqn Ldr Juhi Borgohain

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Gp Capt S Ghosh

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But in my generation, the young officers would rather be in the field every day, playing troop games like football, hockey or basketball. Cricket was still an elite game meant for Sunday mornings to be washed down with beer and Golf had not yet taken root. Sadly, not many follow that profile any longer and the bi-weekly PT days are best avoided. ‘Extreme’ heat or ‘drizzle’ are good enough reasons to seek cancellations.

I

am 47 years old and getting into an age bracket where the general discussion on health is to watch your diet and take long walks. Good advise that, but what do I do if I wish to eat well, love my drink and yet remain healthy? Brisk walk helps, but will it win my battle against the bulge? Not too sure. I first went to the gym ten years back. Rather late to start, considering that a lot of young people throng the gyms – in the armed forces and the civvies street. But in my generation, the young officers would rather be in the field every day, playing troop games like football, hockey or basketball. Cricket was still an elite game meant for Sunday mornings to be washed down with beer and Golf had not yet taken root. Sadly, not many follow that profile any longer and the bi-weekly PT days are best avoided. ‘Extreme’ heat or ‘drizzle’ are good enough reasons to seek cancellations. A decade back, a kind soul introduced me to the gym – just when I started getting disgusted with this changed mindset and found myself in the minority at the playfield – and I have since not looked back. Gymnasiums were available at AF stations before, but I had a mental block for closed door exercise (except for squash) and preferred to be in the open, sweating it out like a ‘man’. This period was also my first tenure as staff at Command HQs and the office work seemed too sedentary.

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There are a plethora of reasons why I continued to visit that particular gym, the prime reason being the upkeep – clean, healthy, airconditioned and supervised. Till then the gyms I had seen were sweaty, dingy-lit, bacterial dens with pieces of iron passing as apology to weights. I have since been regular except a tenure of Air HQs, wherein the work timings and stay in civvies street made it difficult to find a convenient gym within financial reach and not crowded enough. Luckily, the posting was to DASI, and I did make up for the loss during the inspection visits – every alternate week. Why am I penning my views on this subject? I am not giving you the results of a research from books or the net – sure way to get one disinterested since it would sound like an informed sermon – but my personal experience, a journey through the niceties of the environment and the way it has helped change my outlook. So don’t expect a regimen drawn up nor a diet chart to supplement your exercise routine – one can get it from the cyber space – I would express the ups and downs of the hour that I spend in the gym everyday – well almost an hour and almost everyday – and the resurgent enthusiasm that stays through the day. The process. One has a lot of questions related to the gymnasium. I will try and clarify a few doubts, as I see it.

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 The best time to visit the Gym. Anytime you find time. Many theories are propounded wrt the best time to be there, but to me, one must not get bogged down by such trivialities. You are the best judge – early morning, early/ late evening, during a break in office (if your office is lucky to have one, I mean a gym) – suit your timings. For starters, make a routine and try & stick to it. The first few days/weeks could be very trying – you will discover a lot of hitherto unknown muscles courtesy the pain – a tempting reason to quit before you takeoff. So the routine and a bit of inner discipline helps.  Pace of training. Don’t expect to be a John Abraham or a Salman Khan in a month’s time. Go slow and in sequence. As you age, its better to tone rather than build muscles. The aim is to be healthy, look healthy and feel healthy. I would recommend a six day routine, cardio everyday – use the treadmill, and then divide the body into three sections – chest & up, abdomen & lower back and lastly the legs from thigh down. One section per day is a good way to start – Monday/Thursday, Tuesday/Friday and Wednesday/Saturday. God’s day is for rest. If the gym equipment has graded levels, start with the ‘basic’ or ‘beginner’. Work your way up patiently to ‘expert’ in say, six months. This will ensure you stick and not say bye to the gym in about a month.  Socialise. Gym is a good place to interact. The general view is that one must keep silent, be serious and exercise – a sure reason to quit because of the monotony. Most people enter the gym with a focus and a similar aim. You can expect very little gossip, discourage – if you find it. Talk generally borders to the bulges and ways

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to control and one gets wonderful tips from veterans, but beware and learn to filter. The feelgood factor improves the quality of conversation on other subjects too. Good to have some soft music going – it gets you going – let the beats be for the Jane Fonda gang and in the mat room. Whatever you do, don’t be oblivious to your surrounding and the co-gymmers, enjoy your time. It distracts you from the hard work and the pain. A word of caution – excess of socializing can be counter-productive as well as a distraction to others.  Gym Ethos. Never hog the equipment. Spend time adequately for your benefit and also cater for the others. Follow the instructions to the T. Wrong use can do a lot of damage and can be dangerous too, when in doubt – ask. Don’t take the weights and the mechanized equipment – especially the electrical ones – for granted, it can be and has been a great leveler. Be properly attired and stick to the rules, viz. wrt the timings. Be cordial and help out. In a nutshell, be disciplined and let the process be fun. Why Gym? A logical question is, why take so much pain and what do I gain? I will try and answer from the personal as well as organizational point of view.  I have discussed a few personal benefits in the previous paragraphs – I have only delved on the physical. As the cliché goes ‘a healthy body is a prerequisite for a healthy mind’, and it sure is. On days that I miss a schedule, something goes amiss, the mind wanders, there’s a general lack of well being. I know it’s a mind thing, since the same feeling does not recur when I intentionally miss a session. There is a definite feel-good factor related to being in the gym. Its healthy too and the frequency of visiting the SMC should reduce and serious illnesses can be kept at bay that much longer. The physical well being translates to a mental and emotional stability. As we age, our physical prowess tend to wane, it hurts when I don’t intercept the ball in the football field – when

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I think I could – or steal a quick single and find myself stranded short of the crease. This happens since one unconsciously compares ones abilities at the height of physical fitness to the present and tends to believe that the ability has not diminished. Workout in the gymnasium reduces that gap to an extent and keeps us ‘younger’ for a longer duration, physically and thus mentally.  The organizational benefits are manifold. I have felt an improved work environment around me, I seem to be more patient and thus rational in my decisions. Which leads to a better work environment for personnel in general, especially, if the person in question is high in the hierarchy. A commander/leader in high spirits does wonders to the subordinates and thus the organization. The work place seems bright. Positive as well as negative vibes are infectious. When it comes from a superior, the feel-good or the tremor runs wide. So, in the interest of your subordinates, keep fit, and thus happy. Secondly, as discussed earlier, outdoor activity is in the wane. One way is to blame all and sundry down the line and pass instructions to enforce. The other is to be aware, try and rectify slowly but steadily, taking into account the changed social milieu. The resultant lack of fitness has started showing on the personnel and it gives a poor impression of the service to the civilians. An averagely fit person is looked at in awe. Since the trend has been to move away from outdoor activities, try and check the rot, as well as find alternatives. Gymnasium is a good option. As it gains popularity, the resurgent energy in the personnel will take them outdoors again. And its a good hobby for the families too – most are ignorant about the benefits of physical activity and tend to age early, physically and mentally. The Way Forward. It destroys my myth that ‘sweating it out like a man’ can happen only outdoors, it can in the gym too. There are two aspects that need to be looked into when one wishes to initiate people onto an activity. First, provide the resources and convince them to use it. We need to move to healthy, aesthetically designed

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and friendly gyms and if possible, availability of expert advice and help – that’s the way I got addicted. Don’t just stick to one gym in a station, have a few at easily accessible locations. The aim is to make it lucrative to the personnel & families – like their TV sets and the soaps – so as to wean them away from those weaknesses for a certain period. The commanders need to find a way around the rule books to build them. The best is to ask for a review and modify the authorizations. Let the gyms be built as gyms and not be known by other names for the auditor’s consumption. Ensure that the timings suit a vast majority of personnel and families. Having provided the resource, the second aspect is to convince people to use them. Nothing is more criminal than creating a resource and not using it. One will need a host of innovative ways to encourage people to start coming to the gym, and once they are used to it, proliferation is not a problem. Measures could be personal examples, organized sessions (like the yoga camps) and timings split between units and sections to promote a healthy competition for attendance, thus involving the unit/section supervisors in it. Nothing works better than making people compete – and this time for attendance – and publically appreciating it. There would be many more suggestions – more the minds, better the outcome. Innovate and apply. In the preceding paragraphs, I have penned some of my thoughts on the subject. I have greatly benefitted from this hobby and I believe that others have and will, too. Physical fitness is a soldierly trait and if we call ourselves soldiers, we need to be physically fit. For I believe, we are soldiers first, and then comes our specializations and/or the fact that we are officers or PBORs. It would be nice to see healthy and smiling faces around us in every station and a lot of that depends on our inner well being – physical fitness being a great contributor. So, keep fit and keep smiling. - Gp Capt S Ghosh

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JWO AK Singh

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his incident happened while I was posted to a premier fighter squadron in the western sector in 1992. On this eventful day, I was detailed to carry out First Flight Servicing FFS on a MiG-21 ac. There were about ten ac’s on line. A technician was detailed for oxygen-charging with an oxygen trolley and a tractor. This team was visiting each pen to charge the ac parked there. After finishing electrical checks, I was waiting for oxygen charging of the ac in my pen. When this tractor with the oxygen trolley was brought to my pen, I started the process of charging my aircraft after connecting the oxygen hose to the charging point. While I was opening the oxygen cylinder with the cylinder key, the other person was inspecting the oxygen gauge in the cockpit. During this process, I felt as if the oxygen trolley was moving forward. I also noticed that the MTD of the tractor was missing from the driver’s seat! The oxygen hose was now getting taut. I immediately stopped the charging process. By this time, the other technician rushed towards the charging point to disconnect the oxygen hose from the ac. I panicked because the hose was

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fully tensed by now. I immediately rushed to the tractor and disconnected it by removing the rod from the trolley thus preventing a major incident. Had the tractor not been disconnected from the trolley, the charging point (oxygen) would have broken from the ac. Later, I also found out that the brakes of the tractor were partially serviceable! This incident taught us a great lesson. We have now started disconnecting the trolley during the charging process. I hope the same is done in all the flying bases. - JWO AK Singh Editor’s Comment  Do we ‘take care’ of the slope through works or the MTD through HRM . The egg or chicken?  Chokes were designed to prevent rolling wheels. They dont weigh much and may prevent the ‘disconnected’ trolley from rolling off.

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damage. I asked the representative how could it happen. He had no answer. The fact was that the bolts could not have gone inside after assembly of the compressor, as there was no passage which could allow the bolts to pass through. The only possibility of going into the crank case was during its manufacturing or assembly.

WO Ram Karan

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was posted as Warrant Officer in charge of Aircraft Special Vehicle ASV Section of a premium fighter base in the northern sector. The squadron was recently supplied with two mobile Air Field compressors by a civil firm. During the acceptance of the equipment the representatives of the OEM carried out all the laid down checks as per the manual. The Incident Next day, during the DI, it was found that a dipstick of one of the compressors was broken. This compressor was declared unservicable and the matter was taken up with the OEM. After a few days the representative of the firm came to investigate the matter. Prima-Facie it appeared to be a case of an implied foreign object since the question was ‘where was the lost piece lodged?’

After Foreign Object Removal the compressor was assembled and functional test was carried out. It was serviceable. Had this breaking of the dip stick not been taken seriously, FOD would have completely written off the compressor. Lesson Learnt  Never assume a component / equipment to be perfect if it is new, everyone is liable to mistakes.  Never ignore even the minutest of a problem of your ac / equipment. It may be a precursor to something big.  Timely reporting and a full-fledged investiation in any unservicablity saves time and effort in the long run. - WO Ram Karan Editor’s comment: Machines and people both give ample indication of impending failure. We just need to observe and Report to strike out ‘CHALTA HAI’.

Investigation The OEM representative tried to suck out the suspected foreign object from the sump of the compressor by using a magnet through the dip stick hole while it was running. But, nothing could be retrieved. The only option left was to open up the gear box of the compressor, which took almost a day to be completed. When the top portion of the crank case of the compressor was opened we were utterly surprised to discover the items at the bottom of the sump. There were two bolts of dimensions 30 mm and 14 mm length, which had caused the

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O

N 15 Mar 10 Fg Offr P S Chahal 29878-K F(P) was authorized to fly a 2 Aircraft LL Tactical sortie on a MiG 21 aircraft. After an uneventful sortie, while carrying out V/As on D/W the pilot noticed that the pneumatic pressure was reading zero. He announced the same on R/T and carried out a precautionary landing. After touchdown, he switched off the engine and maintained directions with the help of rudders and deployed the tail chute. Subsequently he applied emergency brakes to stop the aircraft on R/W. Post flight inspection revealed a leak from the canopy seal which had led to the pneumatic failure. Fg Offr PS Chahal despite his limited flying experience displayed a high degree of professionalism in handling this emergency.

Good Show Fg Offr PS Chahal (R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

O

N 21 Jun 10, 734109-A Sgt Iqbal Singh AFSO was detailed as the R/W controller. During the period of his duty he observed that the ‘Air brakes’ of a MiG-21 was in ‘out’ position which was cleared for Take-off. He immediately transmitted this abnormal condition on R/T to alert the Pilot, who in turn retracted the air brakes. Had this condition gone unnoticed, it could have resulted in a serious accident. Sgt Iqbal Singh displayed keen sense of observation and a high degree of professionalism and averted a possible incident/accident.

Good ShowSgt Iqbal Singh

(R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

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N 16 Jun 10, 930667 LAC Ashwini Kumar Structure Fit was detailed as Aircraft Inspector for the day flying. While inspecting one of the aircraft, he noticed traces of hydraulic oil above the turbo starter exhaustion. The location where the hydraulic leak was noticed, did not have any hydraulic lines. Thus neither a hydraulic leak is expected nor noticed in routine checks in that area. He promptly informed the pilot about the leak and the aircraft was switched off. Subsequent investigations revealed the source of leak to be very close to the aeroengine hot zone. Had the leak gone unnoticed, it would have led to a major fire resulting in a likely accident/ incident. LAC Ashwini Kumar, despite his limited experience, displayed a keen sense of observation and devotion to duty in averting a potential aircraft accident.

Good Show LAC Ashwini Kumar (R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

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N 16 Apr 10, 931020 L LAC Rajesh Kumar Prop Fit was detailed to carry out LFS and Night FFS on a Kiran MK-I aircraft. While inspecting the engine through the access panel, he noticed a small cut on the trailing edge of a third stage compressor rotor blade. Considering small size of the cut and the limited access to the damage site, noticing its practically calls for enormous dedication and concentration. He promptly reported the defect which could only be confirmed after engine was removed from the aircraft. LAC Rajesh has a reputation for this extraordinary capability of detecting minute defects on engine and subsystems and is credited with detecting minute fuel leaks, oil leaks and cracks in jet pipe frequently. LAC Rajesh Kumar despite his limited experience, displayed a keen sense of observation and dedication to duty and prevented a potential accident.

Good Show LAC Rajesh Kumar (R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

INDIAN AIR FORCE

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N 20 May 10, 658197-N MWO RP Upadhyay Air Frame Fitter was detailed to analyse a repeated snag of fuel leak from Tank No.2 of a MiG-21 aircraft. The Aircraft was received from HAL after an overhaul. During the check, he realised that the metallic flange fitted between tank no. 2 neck and saddle tank was of different size and shape. The longer neck of this metallic flange induced stress on the tank No.2 neck and ruptured its vulcanized portion which had twice caused fuel leak on two different tanks. Had this gone unnoticed, the snag would have recurred causing fuel leak either on ground or in the air. MWO RP Upadhyay displayed keen sense of observation, professional competence and averted a hazardous situation.

Well Done MWO RP Upadhyay (R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

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N 09 Aug 10, 698369-F Sgt Vijay Singh Shivrain, AFSO was detailed as IC of the Safety Bay. During the period of his duty, he was informed that a Kiran Mk-I aircraft was on fire inside a hangar. He immediately reached the site along with the CFT and its crew. He analysed the nature of fire and promptly directed his crew to operate BCF gas without wasting any time. The fire was fully extinguished within a short time. Sgt Vijay Singh Shivrain displayed a high degree of professionalism and saved a precious aircraft, hangar and other valuable assets.

Well Done Sgt Vijay Singh Shivrain

(R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

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N May 10, 786065-S Cpl G Vidyasagar, AFSO was detailed for runway controller duties. During the period of his duty a Kiran MK II ac lined up for departure. He observed heavy fuel leakage from the fuselage of the aircraft at the line up point. He immediately transmitted the same on R/T to the pilot and the DATCO. The aircraft cleared off on the ORP and switched off. Cpl G Vidyasagar, displayed keen sense of observation and dedication to duty and averted a potential accident.

Well Done Cpl G Vidyasagar

(R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

O

N 16 Jun 10, 931001-T LAC DK Yadav Structure Fit was detailed for Aircraft Inspector duties. While inspecting an aircraft before take off, he observed a minor hydraulic oil leak from the port unloading chamber panel. He signalled the pilot to increase the RPM for confirming the hydraulic leak. After confirming the leak and its severity, he indicated the pilot to switch off the ac. Subsequent investigations revealed hydraulic leak from the Booster System Teflon Pressure hose. Had it gone unnoticed, it would have caused ‘Booster Hydraulic System ‘failure and possible fire in the engine area. LAC DK Yadav, despite his limited experience, displayed a professional approval, having a keen sense of observation averted a serious aircraft accident.

Well Done LAC DK Yadav (R Marwaha) Air Cmde PDAS

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