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USE OF HELICOPTERS IN POWER AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS |
Infrastructural development in the hilly regions of India is always a challenging task. The construction, development, operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges, hydroelectric power projects, power transmission projects, and telecommunication systems are all resource-intensive and time-consuming activities. All stages of these projects involve the movement of personnel and material in the most inhospitable terrain. A proper, reliable, and heavy-duty road is often a prerequisite for commissioning these projects. In Europe and North America, such hurdles are overcome by the efficient use of helicopters. Helicopters have many commercial uses, one of which is serving as aerial cranes. In this capacity, helicopters carry loads slung beneath their fuselages on cables. Helicopters were first used in this capacity in the 1950s, although it was not until the 1960s that they were extensively used for this purpose in the construction industry.
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Helicopter sky cranes or utility helicopters offer several advantages over conventional cranes. Specifically, they can reach areas that may be hundreds of miles from the nearest roads or located in inhospitable terrain. Utility helicopters are often used to erect communications towers on the tops of mountains or electrical transmission towers far from cities and towns. They are most effectively utilized when construction and other equipment (such as large pumps and turbines) needs to be brought in or removed.
Eurocopter, the largest helicopter OEM in India, has a range of helicopters with varying load capacities to fulfil the mission requirements of infrastructure and hydroelectric power companies operating in the hill states of the country. Indocopters Private Limited, the commercial partner and authorised maintenance centre for Eurocopter in India, supports these utility operations.
Huge potential for use of Helicopters in India
Huge potential for use of helicopters in India: veteran pilot New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) With India having large partsof inaccessible hilly terrain, there is huge potential for development of helicopter services not only in the general aviation sector but also in various infrastructure projects underway in these areas, a veteran pilot today said.
"There is huge potential of the use of utility helicopters in the north-eastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand region, which are mostly hilly and not easily accessible," Captain Patrick Fauchere, a veteran helicopter pilot with flying experience of over 20 years, said during a seminar organised here by Eurocopter.
Utility helicopters could be immensely useful in these states for carrying out various development projects especially in power and infrastructure sectors, he said, adding, it would help the development of areas inaccessible by other means of transport, thus saving time and money.
He said while a vast country like India has just 290 helicopters, in Europe, even a small country like Switzerland has more than 300 choppers.
Helicopters in Europe are not only used for general aviation activities like ferrying passengers but are largely used in various development projects, he said.
"In France, a power supply company uses helicopters not only for inspections or laying of high voltage power supply lines but also for routine maintenance work," he said, adding, this saves valuable time and money.
Noting that India has not developed enough in terms of helicopter business, he said an urgent relook is needed to be cast at the rules which prevent extensive use of choppers in areas apart from general aviation.
Regulatory authority could look into this and may even follow the European or the US model for helicopter operations, he said. PTI SMJ
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