TIMBER TRAIL: A UNIQUE RESCUE OPERATION
TIMBER TRAIL: A UNIQUE RESCUE
OPERATION
(25 TH ANNIVERSARY)
25 years back ,on 13th-14th October 1992 , Indian Air force was tasked to undertake an unprecedented and daring rescue operation . It still remains unsurpassed in terms of the risk , skill and courage display
Here is a firsthand account of the events, obtained from the young pilot , Flt Lt Paritosh Upadhyay, who flew all the rescue missions .
Bird's eye view of timber trail |
A jewel in Shivaliks’ is how the tourist brochures describe the timber trail mountain resort at Parwanoo, some 35 kms from Chandigarh on the Shimla highway. The main attraction of the resort is a Rs. 35/- cable car ride which takes the tourists from ‘Timber Trail’ (elev 2000 ft) to Timber Heights (a resort on hill top at 5000 ft across the valley). On the fateful day of 13 Oct 1992, some eleven passengers boarded the cable car, for a 2.8 Km ride to the top. Most of them couples and a child. Getting their money’s worth , they were about to dock at the top. The operator had opened the door and was waiting to let the tourists out. This is when all hell broke loose, with a sudden jerk the cable car started sliding backwards. The haulage cable had broken. A passenger was thrown out and landed on rocks some 10 ft below. The operator tried to jump out. He hit his head on a rock and died. The trolley continued its death slide accelerating to as some estimates say, 250 kmph. Midway through the plunge the cable car came to a screeching halt. Wheels twisted, the trolley was now hanging slap bang in the middle of valley, some 1500 ft above Kaushalya river. Luckily for them the haulage cable which had snapped got entangled in some tree at the valley base, halting the death dive of cable car.
Uppy ...all of 26 years, a pilot, MI-17, a Flight Lieutenant, is sitting in the aircrew
room, waiting for the end of working hours.
Thoroughly enjoying the not too frequent privilege of being ‘back at
base’ and looking forward to going back home and playing with his five-month old
daughter.
His reverie is broken by the sudden
entry of his Commanding Officer “ Uppy, get an aircraft ready. We have to
go to Chandimandir, you are coming with me.”
Rush
to the helicopter…flight plan on R/T for mercy mission…. take off from blast
pen…..set course direct to Chandimandir helipad. Commotion at Chandimandir helipad….. Chetaks (smaller
helicopters) already parked….. Frantic
activity of Army, Air Force and Civil officials in the helipad lounge…...
At the Chandimandir helipad, the MI-17 crew is quickly ushered to the lounge (now
looking like a war room, with maps, charts and a lot of brass).Weird ideas are being discussed:
“Let’s land some sky diver on top of the cable car with sufficient rope to
reach the valley floor. Then ask the passengers to slither down.”
“Attach
extra cable to top and then slowly lower the cable car to valley floor.”It would take almost fifteen
days to get cable from Austria. The
trolley might just derail and fall off… Too risky.
“Detach
trolley from rails, carry it under slung by MI-26 helicopters.” Too far fetched, crazy.
First look at the hanging cable car |
The Chetaks have done numerous
recce sorties, but found it an impossible task to execute. Highly trained para
commandos ,led by Maj Crasto, are available for any task. Everyone looks towards the MI-17 crew.
"Let’s go and do a recce first”,the
CO says.
All of them along with a few Para Commandos move to the helicopter and
quickly take off. Climbing to 1.2 Km on
altimeter, as they approach the site, the scene unfolds. The cable car hangs in
midair with its wheels twisted .Another cable , with a lateral separation of 5 m , runs 25m on top of the car. As the helicopter
comes close to the trolley, the crew can clearly see upturned faces of the passengers,
desperate. They decide the best way to approach is along the cables, keeping
the lower side of cables towards tail.
On finals, Uppy slows down to hover.
The aircraft bucking and twisting. “Keep well above the top wire, it is going
up.” Rotors running very close to top cable, seems too risky . “Lets not take the risk , set course back for
helipad.”
Major Crasto comes up to cockpit. “What happened?” he asks the
youngster “Sir too close…” Uppy replies…. “Shouldn’t we give it another try…”
They look at each other, something passes.
“Gunner captain.”
“Go ahead Sir.”
“Please go and call the CO back.”
The
gunner gets down and runs towards the CO who is about to enter the war
room. The CO comes back fuming to the
cockpit.
“Yeah what happened?”
“Sir I think we
should give it another try.”
The crew looks at each other. Pestered,
the CO concedes “Okay’ let’s go in for
one more recce”. They take off again.
The young Flt Lt is flying from the Captains seat(left). He is the one
entrusted with all the flying. The plan
is to winch down Maj Crasto with help of rescue hoist on top of the cable car.
He is to open the escape hatch on the roof, take out one passenger at a time, strap him/her in to the rescue hoist for winching up in to the helicopter.
“Sir
we will first do a dry run without any one in the winch bucket.” CO
agrees.
“I will be
hovering OGE at almost 4000 ft keep a lookout for power reserve.”
“Will be hovering
900 to the valley direction. Remember ..winds will be strong and
cross from left. Right rudder limit.”
“I have to hover
above the top wire which is 25 m (approx.) higher than the cable car and is
climbing towards the front.”
“The MI-17 winch
cable is 45 m. So 25 m (height of top
wire from cable car) plus height of helicopter (8m) plus clearance of front
rotor tip from climbing wire. Hardly any leeway available in the vertical
plane.”
“The lateral
separation between up going and return set of cables is just about 5m and to
top it the escape hatch is on the inner side.
So winching through these obstructions is like threading a needle
without touching the sides.”
He
slowly brings the aircraft to a hover. Taxiing forward, the gently swaying cable car crosses under his vision. Practically blind now, he calls out “Steady hover……, gunner guide me.”
Web of wires |
“Sir
forward, forward ------- forward stop.”
“Sir reeling out…
reeling out.”
“Moving back stop ….
Forward.... forward.”
“Sir half cable
out ….. full cable out.”
“Sir…too high go
down.”
“Bloody hell, we are already too close to the top wire already” he thinks,
but gingerly goes down.
“Engineer look out in front and caution me”.
Legs
already shaking, full right rudder but helicopter still rocking to left in to
winds.
“Sir bucket touching trolley roof, maintain
steady “, says gunner. Relief…. can be done just about.
“Okay”
He
looks at the CO with a nod he says on intercom “Gunner, strap in
Maj Crasto. Prepare to winch him down”.
“Roger Sir”
“Sir, commencing
winching… steady”.
“How the hell do I know I am moving forward”?
Uppy thinks. There is nothing in
front other than the goddamn climbing cable.
Suddenly, he notices a white speck on the cable. Paint or tiny a piece of paper?? Who cares?
That’s my reference for forward movement.
“Sir bucket approaching top of trolley” --- chimes the gunner. “Go down”.
Carefully he lowers the
helicopter. Front rotor tips are just a few feet away from the cable. All the
crew are praying. Desperate.
“He has unstrapped
and secured himself to the boom with rope.
Reeling in”.
Everyone is elated! Ten minutes of OGE
(out of ground effect) hover, his legs are shaking like a drummer.
The CO takes over “I got her”. He brings up the helicopter. Gunner continues to reel in the rescue seat.
The CO does a circuit to give some time to the young pilot to relax and
positions back on finals for the first
rescue.
Emboldened by the success of the previous attempt, the crew establishes hover for taking out the first passenger.
“Left… left., Hold
steady”.
“Sir bucket on
roof”
“Strapping in …first
passenger”
“Passenger strapped …. reeling
in”.
Uppy
suddenly realises that any sideways movement may exaggerate the swinging of the
rescue seat at the end of the 40 m line. And
if the thin wire of the rescue hoist touches any of the rope way cables, it would
snap like a kite line, plunging the
tourists 1500 ft down into the valley floor. Desperate for a reference point he spots a burnt patch of jungle on the
valley floor almost a kilometer away.
The position of this patch in relation to the lower cable will now
provide him reference for sideways movement.
Rescue in progress |
“Sir halfway through…. clear of the top cable…clear to go up “.
“Passenger at
thresh hold……. Passenger in cargo compartment”.
Cheers…. first person
rescued…all normal….CO takes over controls…. Uppy desperately tries to relax
already aching limbs…. Another circuit…. positioned on finals…. takes over
controls…. hover for ten minutes……
Another individual rescued…. four
tourists rescued successfully.
“It is getting dark …. we will have to discontinue after this one”.
The last rescue for the day is completed successfully. The last to come in, is the tourist along with
the kid. Major Crasto, standing on top
of the trolley signals the helicopter to set course back, as he decides to stay
put in the cable car for the night. The
rescue helicopter lands back at Chandimandir helipad. It’s a
beehive of activity. The press is out
in full force. The rescued people are
surrounded ,so are the Army and Air force brass. The crew of the helicopter switches off. Uppy
steps on the exit ladder to get down.
His legs just give way and he stumbles down to the helipad below. Unable to stand, he drags himself to a
corner and has four cigarettes to calm his nerves.
Temporary jubilation over, it is decided to undertake further rescue at
first light next morning. The helicopter departs Chandimandir helipad and lands
at Chandigarh Air Force base for the night.
Child rescued |
He replies “No Sir, I have full faith in
this youngster, let him continue”.
Elated by the confidence displayed,
but anxious about carrying out the remaining rescue missions …Uppy keeps
tossing and turning through the night waiting for the next sunrise.
“Don’t you know “?... he tells her
laughingly “He is at Chandigarh, rescuing girls. Should be back tomorrow”. Confused…. she just accepts the reply at face value and gets busy with their five-month
old daughter.
New dawn….
tensions are high, nerves taut, the crew once again gets airborne for the rescue of the remaining eight (Maj Crasto plus one more added during the night). As they
approach the hanging cable car they realize that the scene has totally altered.
There are rows upon rows of vehicles on the Chandigarh- Shimla road, as far as
the eyes can see. A Cheetah helicopter
is already in position, flying overhead with station commander on controls.
Timber trail, platform is filled to the brim with thousands of spectators and
press.
“As
if just the rescue wasn’t tough enough. Now we have whole world watching us” … Uppy thinks….
Establishing
visual contact …Maj Crasto on top of roof.
Thumbs up exchanged…. go around ……position on finals
On an On it goes |
“Roger Sir,
steady, winching out.”
“Forward. forward stop.”
“Sir go down some more.”
Already
sweating………………
“Sir passenger strapped in…. winching up.”
Another rescue....note Maj.Crasto on top |
One down, seven to go ……Repeat
the same procedure all over again.
“Sir cable frayed ….
stopping winching.”
“Sir pulling the
cable in.”
“Okay gunner---
discontinuing operations, setting course for helipad.”
Land
back at Chandimandir helipad. Luckily another MI-17 is already there…. check
the winch thoroughly. Change of
aircraft, airborne again…
Tension doubled…. restart rescue. …..
“Steady hover---- winching out.”
“Uppy… we are too close to the wires.”
“Sir. we have to
go down or else the winch will not reach the trolley …. I am on the controls… let me #*&%@ fly.”
Tension
and tempers are running high.The CO concedes and lets him get on with the task. With God’s
grace nothing further goes wrong…. The
crew successfully rescue the remaining passengers…. Elated, relieved, jubilant ….
the crew land back.
The media is out in full
force. Congratulations… questions….
photographs …. everyone is vying for a slice of the
successful operations. The event is covered in great details by news
agencies like India today, Newstrack, CNN, BBC etc. What follows is genuine public
adulation. Over the next few days many a
felicitations are held across Himachal & Punjab. The crew get a taste of
stardom at The Mall in Shimla. They are practically mobbed by students, tourists and others,
after a function organized by the CM of Himachal Pradesh. A slew of awards is given to many (deserving
and ……). Funnily ‘Red and white’ cigarettes want the crew to be given a bravery
award and also feature in an ad film (rightly turned down by Air HQ). They later make do with Akshay Kumar…. Many international organizations also want to recognise the brave effort, but
the offer is turned down due to security reasons.
Crew with the Newstrack team |
EPILOGUE
Twenty-five years to date, now all of fifty-two-years-old….
The hair on his neck stand up as he recounts this episode.
The passion on his face is
clearly visible as he says “Each one of those rescues was a life and death event.
Anything could have happened and the whole mission could have gone horribly
wrong. But then, that is what we had all been trained for” …. he adds….”
It would have been impossible, but for the crew who have blind faith in your
capabilities and put their lives on line each and every time.”
“Think about the courage…which
motivated Major Crasto to go down in the winch….and then he chose to stay the
night…”
Asked about the difficulty of this mission he quips “How many times would you find a cable car hanging mid valley at 1500ft?”
“Would I do anything differently? Well the brain might tell me, not to do
such a risky and foolish thing but the heart would always make me do it again.
Otherwise I would not be a military
helicopter pilot. I am sure there are many youngsters in the field doing
similar things even today.”
“I wish
that I could in touch with the passengers who we rescued and share the memories ,he concludes.
POST SCRIPT
That in a nutshell was what
happened and how. However ,I am sure further elaboration of the challenges
faced, for the benefit of non helicopter pilots and civilians, is in order.
This would help them realise the enormity of the task carried out.So here goes:
Hung in Mid Air. The first thing which makes this
rescue unique is the fact that the trolley was hanging 1500 ft above
ground…this presented a situation which is unprecedented . None of us …even in
our wildest dreams , would know how to tackle it.
.
Hovering OGE at 1500 ft. To take out each passenger the
helicopter had to be hovered for prolonged (10 to 12 minutes) periods while winching them up. Hovering
is the process of holding the helicopter in one place. This is generally done during
take off and landing, close to ground at a height of 2-3 meters and called IGE
(In Ground Effect). Prolonged OGE hover in this case presented huge risks and
required phenomenal piloting skills.
. Cross
wind Hover. Most of you
may know that all flying machines are designed to fly into the wind and they
tend to corkscrew in the direction from which the wind is coming. In the hills
, the winds blow along the valley .Hence in this case , strong winds were were
blowing 900 to hover direction.Also OGE hovering is a manoeuvre which requires maximum power from the machine. All these factors combined ,had
Uppy literally fighting with controls to maintain a steady hover.
.Flying Blind. Any hover is carried out with reference to various
visual cues nearby.Hovering near ground (IGE) , pilots have many a markers such
as bushes, stones , markings etc to look at . These help them in indicating any
relative movement and correcting for it. In this case nearest visual clues were
at a distance of almost a kilometer. Hence Uppy had to totally rely on his
gunners command to maintain hover over the cable car. Ever tried driving blindfold , with someone else guiding you????
. No Scope for Error. To rescue each passenger from the
escape hatch , the accuracy require was
a couple of meters. The lateral separation between the adjacent cables
was just 4-5 meters and the hatch was on the inner side . This meant that the
whole cable length of 40 meters had to be lowered and brought up each time
through this gap of couple of meters. You can well imagine the catastrophe ,if the winch touched any of the cable car wires. The damn thing would have been cut like a
kite string. All this while, the rotors were swishing around just about two
meters above the top cable.( Remember , the total length of winch cable was 45
meters)
.
Fatigue and Tension. Helicopters are designed to be an unstable
platform. They can move around in every imaginable direction. So as a result ,
to keep it steady at one place ( hovering), is the most demanding manoeuvre .
This coupled with long duration of each rescue ( 10-12 minutes) and absolutely no scope for error, demanded exceptional resilience from the crew. ( Remember ?.....the cigarette
episode and the sleepless night…)
Now that you are better informed about Uppy’s predicament……go back …read
again…..re-experience the thrill..
JAI HIND !
So well narrated that the event runs like a movie in front of the eyes.
ReplyDeleteUppy sir, you got rewarded, or I may say Awarded, though you deserved better.
The entire helicopter fraternity is and will always be proud of the entire complement of the crew, especially you and the Daring Maj Crasto.
Salute to you all.
"Jai Hind"
:) Anand Malik
Terrific stuff from an ace pilot, a thorough officer and a gentleman. Proud to have served and flown together.
ReplyDeleteKnow Paritosh sir up and Close back from academy days
ReplyDeleteC SQN
Real cheetah
What an inspiring rescue effort by an ace helicopter pilot...proud of your flying acumen Uppi sir! A big SALUTE!��
ReplyDeleteI must say that Uppy has done an excellent narration of events. This was a daring rescue mission. I was the Chief Operations Officer at AF Station Sarsawa at that time. I can add what all happened before the MI-17 was lauched but at a later date. Uppi deserved a bigger award. Good show n keep it up we all are proud of you Uppi.
ReplyDeleteAlways proud of you Uppy! This daring rescue effort was never covered in so much detail. Glad to hear of it first hand.
ReplyDeletePathak
Facts must always be annotated.No question of shaking legs.Ridiculous to potray like this.
ReplyDeleteA/C made as light as possible for OGE hover,calculations how much can be loaded for return leg.Precision hover req and excellent crew coord.Had met Ivan in 85 in Chakabama undercover there.Later in Lanka flew 1 9 & 10 SF Ivan not there.Extremely good leadership by Ivan hanging on overnight.Many a rescue like this done all in a days work.My youngster Sk'Jr' SHARMA lauded by Smithsonian.All in all outcome of solid Trg right from NDA days.Time half bit banana people stopped shennagins
Dear all I was a young man of 26 and working in a factory called Shivathene right across the valley. My office window overlooked the valley and from my window I saw each and every rescue operation taking place. Like someone said it was an era before mobile phones and therefore nothing got captured and put on social media. However kudos to the Airforce for handling it properly. Any deaths that took place were because of lack of proper training in the event of such a disaster. I was given to understand that during the rescue operation one of the passengers also jumped out in panic. Luckily the owner of Timber Trail, Mr Garg took very strong corrective measures and no such incident has been repeated again in the last 25 years. Once again hats off to the Pilots of the Indian Air Force. Jai Jawan
ReplyDeleteSalute to the team, Achievements are never single but a team work.
ReplyDeleteSALUTE TO MAJOR KRESTO
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most skillfull and daring operation on helicopters.
ReplyDeleteExcellent display of top class professionalism! Kudos to all members of the rescue mission, especially Upadhyay & Crasto. The narration is superb. Gave me goose pimples!
ReplyDeleteI have only been vaguely knowing about this event, because Paritosh never spoke about it in detail.
ReplyDeleteBut, that’s the way he has been all his life. Never speaking of the tension he has passed through.
Still brother, maybe three decades later, salute to you and your comrades for having achieved a task near impossible.
At the end of the day, it is the man behind the machine, who matters more, that you people proved and it will remain so forever.
https://www.facebook.com/289561928097092/posts/1564833577236581/
ReplyDelete