Chennai: Earlier this month, Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 crashed at HAL airport in Bengaluru, taking the lives of two pilots. The crash came barely days after IAFs Jaguar fighter plane crashed in Kushinagar, UP, on 28 January.
There were other accidents too involving a MiG 27, Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jet, all taking lives of people who served the nation.
In a bid to reduce precious lives being lost in aircraft related accidents, Ullagaram Usha Nagar resident P Jesudas Kondal Rao (71), a retired IAF Sergeant, has launched a safety project has been recognised for implementation by IAF. He spoke to Madipakkam Talk about his initiative.
Excerpts from his interview:
Q: What pushed you into undertaking this project?
A: I retired from IAF in 1983 and for many years, I continued my trivial life. But, a couple of years ago, I saw my grand daughter watching a documentary about flight crashes and came to know about the brutal deaths faced by the inmates of aircrafts. Thats when I got an urge to do something to address this issue.
Q: How did you go about creating this project.
A: Having worked as a Sergeant, I have experience and knew the know-hows of Indian fightercrafts procured from four countries: United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Russia and France. Christened as Fight Safety and Human Life Protection, I started my project around an year ago. With inputs from various researches, I compiled my 50-page project with 12 safety pointers. It took almost an year for its completion. Finally, I sent my project to the Presidents office from there it was forwarded to the office of the Director General – Inspection and Safety, Airforce Headquarters, New Delhi.
Q: What was their reaction upon reading your report?
A: To my surprise, I recently received a letter from the Director General that my project has been recognised by IAF. An appreciation letter from the department read, It was indeed our pleasure and privilege to receive your project on the above mentioned subject that is so relevant to both Defence and Civil Aviation. We are grateful to you for projecting all issues affecting safety of flights so that all necessary and possible preventive measures can be instituted. You should feel satisfied that all your concerns have been studied in detail. IAF will benefit from your painstaking research and a possible accident due to some cause that probably has been missed all this while will be prevented.
Q: Having served your nation once again, whats next on your agenda?
A: I feel satisfied that I have contibuted for flight safety in IAF. My next initiative will be making amendments in my current project and to cover even more aspects I missed in the previous one. I have started working on it and will release it in a few months.
Jesudas can be contacted at 9500191398.