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dan · Member Joined: 18 Dec 2012 Posts: 61

Greetings fellow members!!! It’s been a while since my last TR because I haven’t quite flown anywhere in a while. Another one is coming up which will have an extensive coverage of Lengpui Airport (on popular demand). This TR is actually another tale from my past adventures in the North-East and I hope you like it. Pardon me if I miss out on some details.

Background-
Back in 2011, a field study required me to visit Kolasib, a town which is roughly 85 kms from the state capital Aizawl, in Mizoram. It is a 4 hour drive on the winding NH54 and a mere 15 minutes by chopper.
The Mizoram Government, with Pawan Hans launched services to all district capitals from Aizawl at a cost of 50 INR per minute spent in the air. They got a Eurocopter Dauphin which has 11 seats out of which only 6 are sold for operational reasons. Apparently, they need to keep the chopper light for flights at high altitudes in the hills. The shortest route on their map was the one from AJL to Kolasib. The chopper picks passengers from the Tumpui helipad in Kolasib (which must have been constructed for some VIP and left dead) and dropped them at the Thuampui helipad in AJL which is owned and operated by the military.

Onward Journey-

I had travelled by road for the onward journey and it wasn’t particularly pleasant. The sumo drivers tend to play loud and jarring music to keep them from sleeping on the wheel and even those of us behind them. One can sing along the tunes of “Sandese aate hain” from “Border”, but songs like “unchi hai building” and other Anu Mallik creations are a pain (complete offense). We made it there, stayed the night, completed our job and then it was time for me to move out the next morning at 08:00 from the helipad.
We were put up at the district Tourist Lodge, which is a state government operated cheap and safe place to stay.
Tourist lodge, Kolasib-

There wasn’t any reporting time mentioned in the ticket and so we decided to make it to the helipad, one hour before time just to be on the safer side. We had called for a local Taxi to come pick us up at 6:30 and drive us there. The driver turned up only at 7:15 saying that even that was too early. “Helicopter is like my Taxi, Sir”, he said. We spoke more about the place on the way there and gave each other English- Hindi- Mizo Language lessons. When I reached the place (7:40), it seemed as though I had missed my ride back. The helipad was deserted with just this Fire Tender standing there. I saw a small shed and enquired about the service to get a response that it would be there shortly.
The fire tender-

Then, the unthinkable happened. Within a span of 5 minutes, there were actually some 200 people there, who had come to see the chopper go. There were three other passengers travelling with me and all of us were just weighed before being asked to move further towards the helipad. At this point, I felt like a Concorde class passenger. No security check, No waiting in lines, No extra luxury as such but 200-250 people there watching us go. The chopper came in with a lot of noise and dust exactly at 08:00.
The video link-
https://youtu.be/9WsFIuRI3Ys

The flight-

There was a lady First Officer for VT-ELQ who got off after setting the collective to idle and helped us settle down. She opened the stowage at the rear and asked us to stow our luggage there. No particular request to turn off our phones. She personally came and fastened all our seat belts and gave us ear muffs for the noise. I thought it wouldn’t be needed at first but that got proven otherwise later. She then settled in herself and we took-off effortlessly. I was expecting at least that feeling of a catch in the stomach that we have in an ATR but no. The chopper flight was as smooth as taking a flight on my simulator while sitting on my couch in pyjamas.

The flight lasted exactly for 17 minutes but I had still paid only for 15 because that was the flightplan. En route, there was heavy cloud cover over the proposed landing site, Thuampui and so the pilots were considering a landing at Lengpui Airport which would be another 2 hours by road from home and would defeat the purpose of taking the chopper. The landed at the helipad eventually and I was back home within the next 20 minutes.
Some pictures in flight-

At take-off-

A meandering river

River Tlawng, an important river of the state-

The airport fly-by,

AJL city

ELQ herself-

The landing video link-
https://youtu.be/JEu6QlBXg7w

In Conclusion,
The experience was great. It was almost like flying the jumpseat in a real plane and I also realised how much tougher it is for chopper pilots to take command of such a versatile yet inherently unstable aircraft. The life feels much easier for the airliners then. When I asked the captain later, they had filed a VFR plan to VELP and they are to find the helipad in AJL visually. Hence the fly-by.
This wasn’t like any of the flights we usually take. No boarding passes, no lounge, no megasized airport to admire, no lines, no rude airline staff, no pushback, no in-flight meal, no legroom issue, no worries of an on time arrival and finally, no long taxi ride back home since they practically dropped us 20 minutes away. There is still so much to flying than all this.

Hope you liked my trip report. Another one coming up within a week. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome.
Regards,
Dan

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Hi Dan, what an exotic TR!
Yes, we are waiting for the on-popular-demand more coverage of Lengpui airport itself, but if you send us gems like this, replete with lovely videos, I am sure there will be much more popular demand for all types of trip reports from you! Once again, a superb write-up, complete with the background, planning, minutes details, the uncertainty (where you would end up landing)...and the disturbing taxis and their loud music: you had the reader right with you. The aerial pictures were out of the world...thank you very much for sharing a lovely TR. Your landing video gives a feeling of the reader looking out of the chopper window, and experiencing the landing, first-hand.
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:46 pm Post subject:

Wow !

Fantastic TR !

I have missed few opportunities of taking a helicopter ride. . Hope i get one soon. .

Looks like an experience with some superb views
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jbalonso777 · Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 3:11 am Post subject:

Wow, what a great TR! I too have an helicopter experience, and I will post it pretty soon!

The Pawan Hans experience is clearly like no other! Thanks so much for sharing!

Jish
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