A dangerous chopper ride

Commanding a battalion is every Army officer’s dream, but the romance is doubled if it is a challenging assignment at a place like Leh. And so, when in May 1986, I landed at the Leh airfield by an AN-12 transport aircraft, I was literally on cloud nine.

In the good old days, there was only one EME battalion to provide engineering support to equipment, weapon systems and vehicles deployed along borders with our two adversaries. This meant that I had to move quite often from the headquarters to forward locations, sometimes in a helicopter.

I remember how thrilled I was when I used one for the first time to visit Chushul. So, a call from Capt Sanjeev Saklani, ADC to the GOC Maj Gen DD Saklani, to accompany them to Thois made me feel important, as it was not often that an EME officer got an opportunity to travel with the GOC.

It was only after landing at Thois that I learnt the reason for the special favour: moving BMPs (Infantry Combat Vehicles) across Khardung La was part of an operational plan and I was required to check the preparedness of the forward brigade workshop.

After I had waited for some time at the airfield, the GOC arrived with another Major General, who I later learnt was Maj Gen Afsar Karim from the AHQ.

After reaching the destination, I went to the workshop to sort out logistics issues. At 2.15 pm, the pilot of the chopper approached me to request the GOC to move to the helipad at the earliest. I conveyed the same to the ADC and the GOC, and Maj Gen Karim was requested to wind up his conversation with the brigade commander and move to the helipad. By the time we reached the helipad, it was already 3 pm, the hour when flying was prohibited. The pilot had strong reservations since by then strong winds had started whistling in the mountains. But when the two Generals insisted, he relented.

On way to Leh, the helicopter had to manoeuvre a kind of tunnel formed by the shoulders of two mountains. The chopper was at the mercy of winds defying controls of the pilot. Maj Gen Karim, who was senior in service and was himself a pilot, started giving some instructions to the pilot, but the GOC, sensing the seriousness of the situation, told him to shut up in no uncertain terms.

Good sense prevailed. We were on tenterhooks for almost 20 minutes, during which the three of us, all from different faiths, must have said our prayers. The scene at the airport explained what we had encountered with fire engines in operational mode and staff officers and men ready for action to handle any untoward incident.

On the tarmac, the GOC hugged Maj Gen Karim and shook hands with me. The tragedy had bridged the rank gulf and I received an invitation for dinner the GOC had organised in honour of the visiting dignitary.