Our VIPs will have to fly in a hired helicopter for around six months from September, as the 23-year-old government-owned chopper would go for the mandatory biennial inspection next month.

The safety inspection of the chopper would take around three to fourth months. Taking this into count, the state civil aviation department is in the process of hiring a helicopter for six months.

The state chopper is used to ferry the governor, chief minister and cabinet ministers among others. It is also pressed into service for conducting surveys and aerial inspection in case of natural calamities.

Dipak Kumar Singh, the director (operation)-cum-chief pilot of directorate of civil aviation told The Telegraph: “As the chopper would be grounded for four months, we will hire a chopper from a private operator for VIP movement and emergency services. It would be nine-seater and maximum five- to seven-year-old.”

He said: “The government helicopter — Dauphin SA 365N — is scheduled for a biennial inspection from September 27. The exercise involves X-ray inspection of several parts, weight check and centre of gravity calculation among several other drills. All these would take around four months. This inspection is mandatory in order to get air-worthiness certificate from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).”

In India, choppers’ safety is a big issue. Some of them have met with fatal accidents in the past. Some prominent leaders of the state lost their lives flying in choppers. (See graphics)

One of the two choppers the state bought in 1989 spending Rs 7 crore met with an accident in February, 2004. It crashed in Munger.

The other helicopter — still in use — is 23 years old but the authorities claimed that it was fit for operations because of very less flying hours.

“Our helicopter has flown for around 2,500 hours since the time of its purchase, which makes an average of around 100 hours per year and less than 10 hours per month. The total flying hours of our helicopter is almost equal to the flying hours of any Pawan Hans chopper in two years. Moreover, DGCA in a letter has approved 35-year shelf life for our chopper,” said Dipak.

Mirza Faizan, an aviation scientist and chief executive officer of Bangalore-based Avembsys Technologies Pvt. Ltd claimed that operating a 23-year-old chopper was not necessarily unsafe. “Aircraft and helicopters come with a shelf life depending on flying hours and maintenance measures. The average shelf life of choppers varies between 25 and 30 years. Running a 23-year-old chopper cannot be considered unsafe if it has been properly maintained and its flying hours are very less,” said Faizan.

The state had thought of buying two new helicopters in 2006.

“A proposal was made in 2006 to purchase two more choppers. Several helicopter manufacturing firms, including Eurocopter, made presentations before then chief secretary of the state. But the proposal did not get the final approval of the state government in 2007,” said a state government official.