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5 of theWorld’s Most Festive Airports

December 20, 2015December 20, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Being in an airport during the busy holiday travel season can be stressful, but some of the biggest and best airports around the world embrace transform themselves to bring joy to your journeys.

With twinkling lights, pine-scented air, and the sound of sleigh bells, these terminals stand out with their impressive holiday cheer.

From London to Singapore, these airports outdo themselves every year with awe-inspiring displays.

No matter where you’re going this season, a trip through one of these airports is certain to put you in the holiday mood.

5 terminals that stand out with their impressive holiday cheer.

O’Hare International Airport

Where: Chicago, Illinois

Expect dazzling lights and terminals filled with boughs of holly at O’Hare International Airport this season, as the airport continues its annual tradition of celebrating the holidays in style. The nation’s third-busiest airport transforms into a winter wonderland, first visible on the road leading to the terminals, where bright, LED-wrapped trees and giant stars and spheres dot the perimeter of the grounds, forming a wintry landscape. Bright wreaths are adorned on many of the overhead signs throughout the airport roads, while oversize ornaments and lights are placed throughout the arrival and departure terminals. Be sure not to miss Terminal 3, where O’Hare’s signature globe is brought to life with the help of hundreds of LED lights, garland accents, and bright doves that float overhead. Aside from the decorations, O’Hare will host school choirs, jazz and blues bands, barbershop quartets and strolling carolers on select days throughout December.

Changi Airport

Where: Singapore

In addition to its normal holiday decorations, the force is strong at Changi Airport this holiday season thanks to a partnership with Disney in anticipation of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Testing the limits of intergalactic travel, Terminal 3 welcomes a life-size X-wing Fighter, offering visitors the chance to don costumes and hop inside the iconic aircraft for a photo opportunity in the cockpit. Plan your trip accordingly: Imperial Stormtroopers and X-wing Fighter pilots make appearance at the jet Saturdays at 4 pm throughout December. Look for dozens of other fun surprises throughout the terminals, including Star Wars’ humanoid protocol droid C-3PO which teaches Star Wars phrases in ten languages, a life-sized TIE fighter, and an obstacle course for the BB-8 droid.

Heathrow Airport

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via Fodors

Where: London, England

With an extensive roster of musicians and festive décor, Heathrow Airport welcomes visitors this holiday season with daily events that are guaranteed to spread joy. Carolers, a string quartet, and a brass band are just some of the rotating acts set to entertain travelers this season throughout the airport’s four terminals. Heathrow offers travelers the great benefit of free gift wrapping, available in all terminals. And most helpful of all, Heathrow’s friendly “gift helpers” are on hand in all terminals, expert in finding the perfect gifts for your friends and loved ones.

Zurich Airport

Where: Zürich, Switzerland

A Swiss holiday haven, Zürich Airport glistens with the glow of 510,860 LED lights and 31 Christmas trees throughout the airport this season. During the holiday season, guests are treated to a deluxe offering of events and activities in the airport which include scheduled tours of the enormous double-decker Airbus A380 operated by Singapore Airlines, an elaborate and exclusive Christmas dinner, and cookie-baking classes for kids. Pop-up stores throughout the terminals include a festive Nespresso coffee spot and fine chocolates and sweets at the Läderach pop-up.

Munich Airport

Where: Munich, Germany

Celebrating the season with the warmth and livelihood of a traditional German holiday market, the 17th Annual Winter Market returns to Munich Airport this year. Plan to spend the better part of an afternoon exploring the market’s 46 stands under the roof of the Munich Airport Center, where the sweet smell of mulled wine and roasted almonds fills the air. Arrive hungry and enjoy artisanal wurst and plenty of German beer on tap. With 450 real Christmas trees set amidst the market, the Winter Market is an ideal place to spend the most wonderful time of the year.

Source….www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day…” Blue Marble Earth Image …”

December 20, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon.

“The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.”

In this composite image we see Earth appear to rise over the lunar horizon from the viewpoint of the spacecraft, with the center of the Earth just off the coast of Liberia (at 4.04 degrees North, 12.44 degrees West). The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara Desert, and just beyond is Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. On the moon, we get a glimpse of the crater Compton, which is located just beyond the eastern limb of the moon, on the lunar farside.

LRO was launched on June 18, 2009, and has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the moon. LRO experiences 12 earthrises every day; however the spacecraft is almost always busy imaging the lunar surface so only rarely does an opportunity arise such that its camera instrument can capture a view of Earth. Occasionally LRO points off into space to acquire observations of the extremely thin lunar atmosphere and perform instrument calibration measurements. During these movements sometimes Earth (and other planets) pass through the camera’s field of view and dramatic images such as the one shown here are acquired.

This image was composed from a series of images taken Oct. 12, when LRO was about 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the moon’s farside crater Compton. Capturing an image of the Earth and moon with LRO’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument is a complicated task. First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC’s Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!

The high-resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on LRO takes black-and-white images, while the lower resolution Wide Angle Camera (WAC) takes color images, so you might wonder how we got a high-resolution picture of the Earth in color. Since the spacecraft, Earth, and moon are all in motion, we had to do some special processing to create an image that represents the view of the Earth and moon at one particular time. The final Earth image contains both WAC and NAC information. WAC provides the color, and the NAC provides high-resolution detail.

“From the Earth, the daily moonrise and moonset are always inspiring moments,” said Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe, principal investigator for LROC. “However, lunar astronauts will see something very different: viewed from the lunar surface, the Earth never rises or sets. Since the moon is tidally locked, Earth is always in the same spot above the horizon, varying only a small amount with the slight wobble of the moon. The Earth may not move across the ‘sky’, but the view is not static. Future astronauts will see the continents rotate in and out of view and the ever-changing pattern of clouds will always catch one’s eye, at least on the nearside. The Earth is never visible from the farside; imagine a sky with no Earth or moon – what will farside explorers think with no Earth overhead?”

NASA’s first Earthrise image was taken with the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft in 1966. Perhaps NASA’s most iconic Earthrise photo was taken by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission as the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, “The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.”

Source…….www.nasa.gov

Natarajan

The Incredible Story of Neerja Bhanot – Indian Flight Attendant Who Saved 360 Lives…

December 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

On the morning of September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 landed in Karachi. It had arrived from Mumbai and, had nothing gone wrong, would have departed for Frankfurt and onward to New York City. The flight was carrying, among members of other nationalities, Indians, Germans, Americans, and Pakistanis.

Unfortunately, the flight was hijacked while it was parked on the tarmac at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

Photo for representation purpose only. Source: Wikipedia

Four heavily-armed terrorists, dressed as airport security guards, entered the aircraft while firing shots from an automatic weapon and seized control of the plane.

This is the story of Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight attendant on board, who helped a number of passengers escape. She was murdered while shielding three children from terrorist fire, less than 25 hours before her 23^rdbirthday.

After the terrorists boarded the plane, Neerja alerted the cockpit crew, who escaped through an overhead hatch in the cockpit. As the senior-most remaining crew member on board, this left Neerja in charge. One of the terrorists asked the flight crew to collect and hand over the passports of all passengers on board. When Neerja realised that the primary targets of the terrorists were American passengers, she hid their passports – even discarding some of them down the rubbish chute. From a total of 41 American passengers, only 2 were killed.

After holding the passengers and crew members hostage for 17 hours on the runway, the terrorists opened fire. Neerja stayed on the plane to help passengers escape, even though she could have been the first to leave. She was shot while shielding three children from the bullets that were being fired by the terrorists.

Most of us will never find ourselves in a high-pressure situation, facing life or death the way Neerja did. True bravery emerges in the face of fear. We might never know what Neerja was thinking or feeling during those terrible hours of the hijacking, but we do know that she chose to respond to the actions of the terrorists with exceptional grace, courage, and grit. Of the 380 passengers and crew members on Flight 73, 20 were killed.

While many others were injured, they did survive – in no small part due to the actions of a 22-year-old flight attendant who chose compassion over cowardice and performed her duty till the very end.

source,….Facebook

Neerja Bhanot’s family suffered an unbearable loss when they lost their only daughter.

“Neerja was the ‘laado’ of the family, the youngest and most pampered. My parents had wished for her, and in a news article after her death, my father had mentioned how, when she was born on September 7, 1962, the maternity ward matron here at Chandigarh hospital rang up to inform, it’s a girl. To her surprise, he gave her double thanks, for Neerja was a prayer answered after two sons,”recalls Aneesh, her brother.

As her father remembers her,

“Neerja was a very sensitive, deeply affectionate and an extremely decent person who believed in sharing with her people all her joys but not the jolts. She had well defined principles and there was little room for compromise in that area.”

Despite their irreplaceable loss, her parents, Rama and Harish Bhanot, soldiered on, and even found a fitting way to honour Neerja’s memory. With the insurance money that they received after her death and an equal contribution from Pan Am, they set up the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust. Through the Trust, they present two awards of Rs. 1,50,000 every year – one to an Indian woman who faces social injustice but overcomes it and helps other women in similar situations, and one to honour an airline crew member who acts beyond the call of duty. There could hardly have been a better way to keep Neerja’s memory alive.

For her actions on the day of the hijacking, Neerja Bhanot was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration for the “most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice”, and the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat, awarded by the Pakistan government for showing incredible kindness. She also posthumously received multiple awards for her courage from the United States government.

Source……..Vandita Kapoor in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

These Are the 6 Singaporean Satellites Being Launched by ISRO Today…17 Dec 2015…

December 16, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

At 6:00 pm today, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch six Singaporean satellites from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The satellites will be put into orbit by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its thirty-second flight (PSLV-C29).

PSLV-C29 on the First Launch Pad with Vehicle Assembly Building in background

PSLV-C29 will launch the satellites into a 550 km circular orbit inclined at 15 degrees to the equator. They will be launched one after the other to avoid collision, and there will be a distance of about 20 kilometres between them. The satellites being launched include one primary satellite and five co-passenger satellites.

The commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix Corporation Limited, has provided launch services for 51 commercial satellites from 20 countries so far. The six satellites being launched today include the following –

TeLEOS-1:

TeLEOS-1 and Nanosats

This is the primary satellite weighing 400kg. It is the first Singapore commercial earth observation satellite and it is being launched for remote sensing applications. Designed and developed by Singapore Technologies Electronics, the mission life for this satellite is five years.

VELOX-CI:

Velox-CI and Kent Ridge-1

This is a micro satellite weighing 123kg. It will be used for research in tropical environmental monitoring using radio occultation techniques.

VELOX-II:

This satellite weight 13 kg and is a 6U-CubeSat technology demonstrator with three payloads – the communications, GPS experimental, and fault tolerant payload. A CubeSat is a type of small satellite used for space research.

Athenoxat-1:

PSLV-C29 Heat-shield closed with six satellites integrated to the Launch Vehicle

It is a technology demonstrator nano-satellite, designed and developed by Microspace Rapid Pvt. Ltd in Singapore.

Kent Ridge-1:

This is a micro satellite weighing 78 kg, and it has two primary payloads.

Galassia:

A 2U-Cubesat weighing 3.4 kg, this satellite has two payloads.

“The satellites will be able to produce information at a much higher frequency. This will surely be very important when you use it for disaster monitoring in the region like Southeast Asia,” Project Director of the Satellite Programme at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Professor Goh Cher Hiang, said.

The 59-hour countdown for the PSLV-C29/TeLEOS-1 Mission began at 7:00 am on December 14. This is the eleventh fight of PSLV in ‘core-alone’ configuration. In this configuration, the six strap-on boosters used by standard PSLV model is not used.

All pictures: isro.gov.in

Source….Tanaya Singh in http://www.the better india .com

Natarajan

Inside the world’s most dangerous airport….

December 15, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Flying into Nepal’s Lukla airport demands courage and precision.

FLYING into Nepal’s Lukla airport — the gateway to Mount Everest — demands courage and precision, thanks to its tiny, treacherous runway perched on a steep cliff.

For half a century pilots have needed to navigate snow-capped peaks and endure erratic weather to land on a runway just 500 metres long that has been carved into a mountain ridge and sits by a perilous three-kilometre drop.

A litany of deadly crashes, including one in October 2008 that killed all 18 on board except the pilot, has earned Lukla the nickname of the “world’s most dangerous airport”.

But when a massive earthquake hit Nepal eight months ago, triggering Everest’s deadliest avalanche and leaving hundreds of climbers and trekkers stranded, the tiny airfield faced its toughest test yet.

Helicopter pilot Nischal KC says that even on an average day constant “weather changes and the steep terrain sometimes make landing impossible”.

“It’s high-stakes work and there’s very little room for error,” he added.

Also known as Tenzing-Hillary Airport after the first men to summit Everest, it has no radar system because of the high cost of installation, forcing officials to rely on an outdated voice communications system to track movements in the air.

“The pilots tell us when they are approaching, we give them updates on wind and traffic, then as the aircraft enters Lukla valley, we warn choppers to steer clear for the landing,” said air traffic controller Dinesh Koirala.

People stand around the wreckage of a Yeti Airlines plane in 2008.Source:News Limited

Things became even tougher in the aftermath of the April 25 earthquake, which killed nearly 8900 people across the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Rescue pilots seeking to reach Everest base camp, where an avalanche set off by the 7.8-magnitude quake killed 18 people, were held back for a day because of hostile weather.

When they were finally able to fly, rippling aftershocks raised the threat of further damage.

“Aftershocks kept coming that day but I was more stressed out by the weather. I knew that unless it cleared up, we could not send any choppers to rescue people injured by the avalanche,” air traffic controller Koirala said.

Pilot KC, who has been flying in the Everest region for 14 years, recalls starting the day with a prayer.

“My first priority was to get the injured out of base camp but people higher up the mountain were panicking because of all the aftershocks,” the Manang Air pilot said.

He made dozens of trips that day to rescue terrified climbers desperate to get off the mountain, and to base camp to rescue the injured.

Things became tougher after the earthquake earlier this year.Source:Supplied

The frequency of aftershocks and the precarious terrain made landing even more difficult than usual, prompting the pilots to hover overhead and haul climbers up with ropes instead.

As rescuers carried dozens of quake victims into Lukla on sleeping bags doubling as stretchers, the tiny airport began to swell with hundreds of tourists haggling with airline officials for a ticket out.

Back in the control tower, Koirala and his colleagues embarked on the busiest week of their lives, closely monitoring the movement of planes and helicopters to ensure no accidents occurred midair.

“The whole week was a blur of flights — the fact that there were so many more aircraft than usual in the air made the job very stressful,” Koirala said.

Before the airport’s construction in 1964, porters would spend days walking from Kathmandu to Lukla, carrying hundreds of kilos of expedition gear on their backs.

The wreckage of a plane.Source:AFP

Mountaineering legend Sir Edmund Hillary originally planned to build the airfield on flat ground — but local farmers refused to part with their fertile land.

Undeterred, he bought a steep slope for $US635 ($871) and recruited scores of Sherpa villagers to cut down scrub with knives. The climber then plied villagers with local liquor and asked them to perform a foot-stomping traditional dance to flatten the land.

“A very festive mood prevailed and the earth received a most resounding thumping. Two days of this rather reduced the Sherpas’ enthusiasm for the dance but produced a firm and smooth surface for our airfield,” Hillary wrote in his 1998 memoir, View from the Summit.

As the number of climbers taking on the world’s highest mountain has boomed in recent decades, so has traffic at Lukla airport, which can be accessed by helicopter or small aircraft.

Spring and autumn tourist seasons are the busiest, but closures are common since clear skies are essential for safe landing on the clifftop runway.

Despite the challenges, some say its reputation for danger is undeserved.

“It’s unfair to call Lukla the most dangerous airport when there’s not much we can do about the terrain or the weather,” said Koirala.

“I have no doubt many lives were saved because this airport remained open after the quake.”

It’s busier here these days.Source:News Limited

Source………Ammu KannampillyAFP in http://www.news.com.au

Natarajan

NASA is accepting astronaut applications, and this quiz will tell you if you qualify….!

December 14, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

If you have a taste for adventure to go where few have gone before, then you might want to sign up to be a NASA astronaut.

On December 14, for the first time in four years, NASA began accepting applications.

“This next group of American space explorers will inspire the Mars generation to reach for new heights, and help us realize the goal of putting boot prints on the Red Planet,” NASA’s Charles Bolden said in a statement.

Do you have what it takes to be the next NASA astronaut? Take this quiz to see what you know:

1. How many NASA astronauts have there been throughout history?

NASA

A. 167

B. 252

C. 339

D. 588

Answer: C. 339

The first NASA astronaut candidates were selected in 1959 for Project Mercury.

Since then, tens of thousands have applied to NASA’s intense astronaut-training program, but only 339 people have been selected. The newest members of the team were announced in July:

1. US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Josh Cassada
2. US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover
3. US Air Force Lt. Col. Tyler “Nick” Hague
4. Christina Hammock
5. US Marine Corps Maj. Nicole Mann
6. US Army Maj. Anne McClain
7. Jessica Meir
8. US Army Maj. Andrew Morgan

2. True or false: All applicants must have a bachelor’s degree to qualify.

A. True

B. False

Answer: A. True

Reuters

NASA has a number of basic qualification requirements, and the first is a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in at least one of the following fields: engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics.

3. Besides a bachelor’s, what else do candidates need?

Apple

A. At least 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in a jet aircraft.

B. A doctoral degree in science, engineering, or math.

C. At least three years of teaching K-12 levels in science, engineering, or math.

D. One of the above.

Answer: D. One of the above.

After earning a bachelor’s in one of the four required fields, qualified applicants must complete at least three years of related professional experience. That can include studying an appropriate field in a graduate program, teaching K-12 levels in science, engineering, or math, or completing at least 1,000 hours of piloting a jet aircraft.

By these standards, astrophysicist and famed host of “StarTalk Radio” Neil deGrasse Tyson, who earned a doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University in 1991, qualifies!

4. Which of the following must candidates have in order to pass NASA’s astronaut physical exam?

NASA

A. They are no older than 50.

B. They can run a marathon in under 4 hours.

C. They can hold their breath for at least 90 seconds without losing consciousness.

D. They’re between 62 and 75 inches tall.

Answer: D. Astronauts must all be between 62 and 75 inches tall.

NASA

Every astronaut must pass NASA’s three basic physical requirements, which are:

1. 20/20 vision in each eye (people can get PRK or LASIK surgery to correct their vision to meet the necessary requirements).

2. Blood pressure that does not exceed 140/90 in a sitting position.

3. A standing height of between 62 and 75 inches, or 5.1 and 6.25 feet.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no age limits on becoming a NASA astronaut, but most candidates selected in the past werebetween 26 and 46.

5. Say you’re one of the few candidates to be selected. Where do you go next for your NASA astronaut training?

A. Kennedy Space Center, near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida.

B. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

C. Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

D. Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Answer: B. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Astronauts complete a two-year training program at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Part of the training requires that candidates become scuba-qualified and pass a swimming test to prep them for the underwater extravehicular activity training they perform at the nearby Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. This giant 6.2-million-gallon pool simulates microgravity environments to get astronauts ready for space walks.

6. True or False: All astronauts must have military experience.

A. True

B. False

Answer: B. False

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need military experience to become an astronaut. But a little experience certainly wouldn’t hurt your chances. As of the 2009 Astronaut Class, 61% of candidates NASA selects came from military service.

7. Which of the following is more important to NASA?

Thomson Reuters

A. US citizenship.

B. Piloting license.

Answer: A. US citizenship.

REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn

To qualify, applicants must be citizens of the US or have a valid US dual-citizenship.

When NASA was selecting candidates for its Mercury program in the late ’50s, it required piloting experience; but today that requirement is no longer in place. If you don’t have military experience and want to be a NASA astronaut, you might want to consider getting your pilot’s license. Many astronauts without a military background have one, according to USA Today.

8. When will NASA begin accepting its next round of astronaut applications?

A. Right now.

B. May 4, 2016.

C. July 4, 2016.

D. They’re always accepting applications.

Answer: A. Right now

NASA is accepting applications for consideration from December 14, 2015, through February 18, 2016. Civilians and military personnel can apply through the Office of Personnel Management’s USA Jobs site at usajobs.gov.

NASA expects to announce its selections by mid-2017.

Source….

Jessica Orwig in

http://www.businessinsider.com

Natarajan

How two IAF pilots saved the day….

December 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

In a precarious mission, Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan and crew rescued a woman in the final stage of pregnancy from atop a water tank in Chennai. She delivered twins the next day!

Archana Masih/Rediff.com spoke to the pilots about that dramatic day.

IMAGE: Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan rescued the pregnant lady from atop a water tank in flood-ravaged Chennai.

When Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan launched their Cheetah helicopter from the Tambaram Air Force base on December 3, they had no idea what lay ahead that day.

Chennai had received its worst rainfall in 100 years on December 1-2 and the two Indian Air Force pilots along with several other helicopter pilots had been flying rescue missions from sunrise to sunset since December 1.

In the five days of the Chennai deluge, WinCo Simon and Sqn Ldr Venkat flew 30 sorties and did 36 rescues — but what they did on day 3 was not only unusual and praiseworthy but humanly touching.

With all communication lines broken down, the pilots received instructions from their operational control centre to rescue a young woman in the final stage of pregnancy. She was marooned on the roof of her home.

Armed only with approximate GPS coordinates, the pilots flew out in search of the pregnant woman. But what they encountered was a sea of houses with 10 to 12 people atop each roof.

It was the proverbial needle in a haystack kind of situation.

IMAGE: The pilots with Corporal Arun Singh, left, and Corporal Rahul Kumar, right, who were part of the rescue team.

“We literally flew roof-to-roof in search of her. Since the sound of the chopper drowns all other sounds, we had to communicate in sign language with people on the roofs,” says Wing Commander Simon, a Category-A flying instructor at the IAF’s Flying Instructors School.

The very best of pilots make it to Category-A; they are entrusted with the task of training future instructors.

“There were around 1,000 people on different terraces and it was hard to spot her. We were circling for 10, 15 minutes and it seemed there was no hope of finding her,” adds co-pilot Squadron Leader Venkatramanan, a Chennai native who will complete ten years in the IAF next week.

“I was on the left side of the chopper and looking at every woman if she had a bump,” he says with good humour on the phone from Chennai.

Just then they spotted Deepthi Velchamy, the lady they had set out to rescue. Since her pregnancy would not permit her to be winched up, the pilots indicated that she be brought to the top of the water tank on the terrace.

Some personnel wearing orange overalls, indicative of the National Disaster Relief Force, were also on the terrace. They put Deepthi in a chair and positioned her on the tank.

The pilots, accompanied by Corporals Arun Singh and Rahul Kumar, meanwhile, circled around and made the approach. As WinCo Simon maouvered the chopper, Sqn Ldr Venkat seated on the side of the water tank, provided vital verbal navigation.

“Left… Left… Lower… Steady… Stop… Stop…” Sqn Ldr Venkat’s instructions must have sounded somewhat like this.

The chopper hovered low, its left skid (the Cheetah has sleigh-like landing gear) gently touched the water tank; its right skid was in the air. Deepthi was helped into the aircraft; tears were running down her face.

Sqn Ldr Venkat gestured to her that all would be okay and ten minutes later, they brought her to the Tambaram Air Base, where an Air Force lady gynaecologist awaited her. According to the rules, rescued civilians are flown to the air base and handed over to the civil administration.

It was here that Deepthi revealed that she was due for delivery that day itself and hers was a complicated case. Her medical papers were not with her and she needed to be urgently admitted to the Ramachandran Hospital that was aware of her medical history.

Since the roads were blocked and water-logged, the pilots were given clearance to airlift her to the hospital. At the medical college hospital, WinCo Simon was lucky to find a basketball court to land the chopper.

Deepthi delivered twin girls the following day. With all communication lines down, her request for rescue was conveyed to the authorities by her concerned sister in America.

Overwhelmed by the circumstances, her husband Karthik told the Press Trust of India, ‘I salute these brave men.’

But the two pilots say they are trained for situations like this.

IMAGE: Stranded people waiting to be transported to safer places from the Tambaram Air Base.

“Hovering with a skid on a rooftop and with limited reference is challenging,” says WinCo Simon who was part of the team that rebuilt the Car Nicobar Air Force base after the 2004 tsunami.

“It was team work of pilots and crew. We are trained for such ops and the IAF is always geared up for any mission as the situation demands.”

The IAF operated 13 helicopters in torrential rain and marginal weather, flying 195 sorties, airlifting 450 stranded people, including women, infants and senior citizens. They rescued some other pregnant women too. Transport aircraft airlifted 30 National Disaster Relief Force teams, five Indian Army columns and also evacuated 770 stranded civilians.

“Personally, it was a very satisfying task, while professionally every helicopter pilot is trained to accomplish these kind of tasks,” says Sqn Ldr Venkat, who has flown rescue ops in Kashmir in the winter snowfall of 2008-2009.

IMAGE: WinCo Simon, left, has been involved in rescue and relief ops after the 2004 tsunami in Car Nicobar. Sqn Ldr Venkat, right, flew rescue missions in the Kashmir snowfall of 2008-2009.

“Once you are in the cockpit and start flying, you need all your skills and follow the rules. That is what we keep in mind while flying without getting too emotional about what we achieve,” he adds.

Both the pilots have done stints with the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo and are the first ones in their families to join the armed forces. They are quite surprised with the interest their mission has elicited, and attribute it to a video that one onlooker shot and uploaded on YouTube.

“My parents were quite thrilled because I am the only one in the family to make to the TV news,” laughs Sqn Ldr Venkat.

After the IAF wound down its ops in Chennai, the two pilots visited the hospital to meet the new mother and twin girls. They carried two bouquets on behalf of Air Chief Marshal Arup Kumar Raha. Since the babies were in the ICU, they could not see them, but were inundated with thank yous from the family.

“Saving somebody’s life is unparalleled,” says Wing Commander Simon, “It is something that will last a lifetime.”

Archana Masih / Rediff.com

Source……www.rediff.com

Natarajan

“Malaysia searches for Boeing 747 owners…” !!!

December 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Boeing 747-200F planes parked on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

STILL puzzled by the mystery of missing flight MH370, Malaysian airport authorities now have the opposite problem: three Boeing 747 planes left unclaimed at the country’s main airport.

The operators of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) have placed a bizarre advertisement in a Malaysian newspaper seeking the owners of three 747-200F aircraft apparently abandoned there.

“If you fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days of the date of this notice, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft” under Malaysian regulations, said the ad which ran in Monday’s edition of The Star.

The notice was addressed to the “untraceable owner” of the planes.

Zainol Mohd Isa, general manager of Malaysia Airports (Sepang), which operates the facility, said the airport had been trying to contact the planes’ last known owners.

He said they were “international” and not Malaysian, but declined to give further details.

“I don’t know why they are not responding. There could be many reasons. Sometimes it could be because they have no money to continue operations,” Zainol said.

The ad placed in The Star.Source:Supplied

In addition to wanting the planes to be claimed, he said the airport is seeking payment from the owners for landing, parking and other charges.

If no payment is received by December 21, the planes will be auctioned or sold for scrap to recoup the outstanding charges. The notice gave the planes’ registration numbers as TF-ARM, TF-ARN, and TF-ARH.

Two are passenger jets.Source:AFP

Zainol said two are passenger aircraft and one is a cargo plane. It is not the first time this has happened at the airport, Zainol added.

Whose are they?Source:AFP

In the past decade a few other planes, mostly smaller aircraft, were abandoned.

He said an aircraft that was abandoned in the 1990s was eventually bought and turned into a restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

KLIA was the origin of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared after taking off on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew aboard in what remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia earlier this year confirmed that a wing part found on the French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean was from the plane.

But no further wreckage has been found despite an intensive Australian-led oceanic search.

Source…….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

” They Said his Life was Over. He Became India’s First Paraplegic in the Aviation Industry Instead…”

December 4, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Sandeep Kumar was just seven when doctors gave him an expired penicillin injection. It left him in a coma for a year followed by paralysis in the lower half of his body. Today, this 24-year-old man, who is the first paraplegic to be employed in the aviation industry, glides around on a wheelchair at Delhi airport – helping other people with disabilities.

Sandeep Kumar woke up from a year-long coma at the age of seven and found that he could not move the limbs in the lower half of his body. The incident changed his entire life. Confined to a wheelchair, he began to struggle to do everyday things. There were no access ramps in his school, children and teachers there would treat him differently, and his condition restricted him from doing many activities that he wanted to do.

“In small towns, people tend to believe that once you are disabled your life is over. They told my father to discontinue my studies and open a small shop for me. When I joined the school again, many people told him not to waste his money on me. It was disheartening but I did not let this affect me. I had my family’s support and a positive mind. I continued my life with the same enthusiasm,” says Sandeep.

Most people would be demotivated with this sudden setback in life, but Sandeep dealt with the situation with a great attitude and determination.

Sandeep became paraplegic at a young age of seven.

“I had no other choice but to accept it and deal with it. Nothing would have changed my situation. So I thought I should channelize my energy into something else and not think about what I was missing,” he says.

He did not blame the doctor, nor did he question his fate. Sandeep continued his life with the same passion and will that he had always exhibited. He completed his engineering degree in computer science and was selected for a job by an MNC during campus placements.

But this was not his goal. Not willing to restrict himself to a cubicle, Sandeep wanted to explore the world, meet new people, and do much more.

He gave up the opportunity of working at the MNC and decided instead to work in customer service to help people in need. He joined one of India’s leading aviation groups, IndiGo Airlines. And today, this 24-year-old enthusiastic man is India’s first paraplegic to be employed with the aviation industry.

“Working in an MNC would have restricted me to one location. Here, I am a wheelchair-bound person helping others. I find this empowering at so many levels,” he says.

Powered by a wheelchair, Sandeep glides across the Delhi airport terminal to assist people in need. His job requires him to be always active.

He completed his engineering and then joined the aviation industry.

He helps people with special needs with their boarding passes and gets them through security check. He also addresses other queries by passengers and helps them get resolved.

“Up until now, the aviation industry did not hire people with disabilities. When I applied for the job I did not expect to get selected. I just thought I’d give it a try anyway. After three-four months I got a call from the airline that I had been selected and I joined them in October 2014,” says Sandeep.

Originally from Jhansi, Sandeep has been living alone for several years now and is completely independent.

He recalls an incident when a friend in school told him that he would not be able to become an engineer. “I got bad grades in my 10th class. That was the first time I heard of IIT and felt that I would like to get admission in this prestigious institute. My friend told me that I would not be able to do so because of my disability. That incident triggered in me a desire to pursue engineering. Though I could not get into any of the IITs, I managed to get admission in a government college in Kanpur. What is amusing though is that the friend who told me I could not do it failed to become an engineer while I went on to become one,” chuckles Sandeep.

Having faced various challenges in his life, Sandeep now understands the plight of people with disabilities. He trains the loaders at the airport to treat the disabled and the elderly with care and respect.

“The transfer from a chair to the aircraft seat is a painful process for someone who is old and/or disabled but it can be minimised with proper training,” he says.

In just a year’s time, Sandeep has become an inspiration to many at his workplace. “They always praise me for the way I dress up and behave in the office. It feels good when my efforts are recognised,” says Sandeep.

Having faced discrimination for most of his life, Sandeep feels a sense of normalcy now.

“I go to office like a regular person. I don’t feel that I am missing my legs. There are so many things that I can do. People have started treating me normally too. They don’t stare at me or give me special attention. This is what I want – a regular life,” he says.

Sandeep is also a good singer – he was part of a band during his college days and still performs occasionally. “My job keeps me occupied these days and music has taken a back seat but I still enjoy singing whenever I am free,” says Sandeep.

Sandeep now wants to set an example for people with special needs so that other companies in the aviation industry hire people with disabilities too. He runs an NGO called Ally Foundation, which focuses on empowering the disabled.

In addition to this, he has also set his eye on participating in the national Paralympics in powerlifting. “I want to write a book too,” he quickly adds, before signing off.

Source…..Shreya Pareek …www.the betterindia .com

Natarajan

Watch How the IAF Airlifted a Pregnant Woman & Her Child from a Flooded Chennai Area…

December 4, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Rescue operations to take people stranded in different parts of the city to safer zones, are going strong in Chennai. Over a hundred people have been rescued by teams of Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Due to the floods caused by heavy rains in the city, some areas have been completely submerged, with water rising up to the second storey of many buildings.

Photo Credits: Twitter, Twitter

Those who have been transferred to safe places by IAF include 50 students who were stranded at SRM University, and a pregnant woman who was airlifted on December 3 from one of the worst affected areas in the city.

“We sent about 120 rescued people to Delhi carried by a C-130J (Super Hercules) this morning and another 20 have been sent to Arakonnam, from where they will fly out in different aircraft,” a senior IAF official informed The Hindu.

Air Force officials are working on evacuating those who are stranded and they are also delivering food supplied to those who are unable to move out of their homes and do not have access to food. A senior IAF official said they expect to rescue about 1,200 people in next few days.

This video shows pregnant woman being airlifted along with her child.

Source…..Tanaya Singh …www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan