The Indian Air Force has put the twin-rotor Chinook helicopter on standby at an airstrip in Chinyalisaur in Uttarakhand, where an emergency medical center has been set up to treat the 41 workers stuck underground in the Silkyara tunnel.
The Chinook helicopter provides the Indian Air Force with strategic airlift capabilities for rescue operations and has been used in the past for humanitarian missions.
Why Chinook over Mi-17
Boeing, the manufacturer of Chinook, says the helicopter’s ability to carry heavy loads to high altitudes makes it suitable for operations in the high Himalayas. The Indian Air Force uses the Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters and CH47 Chinook helicopters for such operations. One of the reasons for not using an aircraft like the C-17, An-32 or C-130J for such an operation could be due to the limited length of the runway to facilitate take-off for the heavy aircraft. to generate.
A helicopter with vertical lift makes sense to airlift rescue workers stuck in the tunnel for 17 days. The Indian Air Force has purchased 15 Chinook helicopters in a multi-billion dollar deal with Boeing.
The Chinook helicopter can transport up to 44 troops or 24 liter casualties (stretchers) in one flight. If the workers are transported on stretchers, it will take at least two missions to take them to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh.
Meanwhile, the Mi-17 helicopter, which the Indian Air Force has used extensively for humanitarian and combat airlift operations, has a limited capacity to carry around 25 troops in a single flight. If the 41 captured workers are flown out on stretchers, the number of flights will increase and the time taken to provide them with medical care at AIIMS will increase.
The carrying capacity and high-altitude operation make Chinook a better choice than the Mi-17 aircraft.
The Chinook’s tandem rotor design provides greater stability and control, maximum maneuverability, ease of loading and unloading and superior performance in wind.
The helicopter has a service ceiling (altitude to which it can fly) of 20,000 feet and Boeing says it is the only helicopter in this class that can do this.
The tandem rotors, which rotated in different directions, eliminate the need to have a tail rotor in a helicopter, as in the Mi-17, which is used to pull torque (angular force) against the main rotor to straighten the helicopter to hold. The tandem rotors also increase the helicopters’ carrying capacity.
2021 Tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand
The Chinook helicopter has a history of providing rapid humanitarian assistance in Uttarakhand. In 2021, a tunnel in the Chamoli area of Uttarakhand was closed after a glacier burst blocked the tunnel with silt and debris, trapping more than 130 workers. The Chinook helicopter flew to Chamoli with 14 persons and carried 1,400 kg of cargo for the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.
Three tonnes of cargo and five personnel of the Border Roads Organization were also transported to facilitate rescue operations.
The Chinook helicopters have been deployed to provide medical assistance in the higher reaches of Arunachal Pradesh amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The helicopter has been tested around the world in a variety of extreme conditions and has proven its ability to operate in the wide range of conditions typical of the Indian subcontinent, Boeing said.