Who was Captain Anil Singh, pilot of helicopter that crashed near Kedarnath?

Captain Anil Singh, who was flying the ill-fated helicopter that crashed near Kedarnath, was among the seven victims of the tragedy.

The chopper burst into flames close to Garud Chatti and Jungle Chatti, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh said. The chopper – Bell 407 (VT-RPN) – operated by Aryan Aviation.

For nearly 15 years, Singh had been an offshore pilot, flying multi-engine Dauphin N-3 aircraft to Bombay High.

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“He joined Aryan Aviation in September, about a month ago where he began flying the single-engine Bell407. He was primarily an offshore pilot. The question to be asked is what kind of recurrence training was given to make him hill-flying proficient,” said an industry expert.

“He was an Army pilot and so he would have flown in the hills, but that was in the early stages of his career. Flying over the sea in a multi-engine helicopter and flying over hilly terrain on a single-engine helicopter are two very different kinds of operations that demand some specifically different skill sets,” he added.

The 57-year-old pilot lived in a posh housing society in the Andheri suburb in Mumbai. He is survived by his wife Shireen Anandita and daughter Firoza Singh.

“Take care of my daughter. She is unwell,” were the last words of Singh when he spoke to his wife a day before he was killed, Zee News reported.

His wife spoke to local media saying that she will be leaving for New Delhi along with her daughter to perform the last rites of her husband.

“His last call to us was yesterday (Monday). My daughter is not keeping well. He told me to take care of her,” Anandita, who is a film writer, told PTI over the phone.

Singh was originally from East Delhi’s Shahadra locality, but lived in Mumbai for the last 15 years. 

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Preliminary investigations reveal that poor weather played a role in the crash, a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official, reportedly said.

A senior offshore pilot, said, requesting anonymity: “Multi-engine helicopters engaged in offshore flying are equipped with autopilot and other stabilisation devices. It relies on cockpit instruments for navigation, and so poor visibility doesn’t pose as big a problem as say, when flying a single-engine helicopter visually over a hilly terrain.”