NEW DELHI, July 12, 2013: In an emergency sortie late at night, two IAF pilots flew their Dhruv advanced light helicopter out of Gauchar in flood-hit Uttarakhand, after a warning that a major landslide could strike the helipad on Thursday. 

The frantic sound of warning whistles woke up the pilots resting in the ITBP mess at Gauchar during the night. "Everyone was asked to vacate the area due to the landslide warning," said an officer. The pilots, who were tasked with flying the director general of ITBP, realized that their Dhruv ALH MK-I was likely to get damaged by the landslide. "The pilots would not leave their machine behind and the only alternative was to fly it out in the drizzle and poor weather," he said. 

"Although the Gauchar advanced landing ground (ALG) is just 5-7 minutes flying time away, there are no night aids, not even basic airfield lighting there. Rules also do not permit night flying in the hills," he added. But task force commander Air Commodore Rajesh Isser, after getting the call from the pilots concerned, gave the go-ahead and also activated other pilots and the ATC at Gauchar to reach the ALG with torches and use vehicle lights to provide whatever assistance they could with the available resources. "Just before midnight, the helicopter then took off from the helipad, negotiated the dark valley in bad weather and successfully landed at the ALG," the officer said.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 12, 2013.