Search for Navy officer off Guj coast was a long haul

AHMEDABAD: The need to have night flying from Porbandar airport has been highlighted on a few occasions, particularly by this newspaper. However, the focus was on maritime air reconnaissance during night through Indian Navy's unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Indian Coast Guard's aircraft. But the death of an Indian Navy officer under tragic circumstances in the Arabian Sea, off Gujarat coast on December 29, has added a new aspect to the issue. The young officer was reportedly asked to jump overboard into the sea about 100 nautical miles off Okha by the captain of an Indian warship during a training drill. He failed to surface and a concerted rescue and relief operation was launched to save the officer by the Indian Navy in assistance with Indian Coast Guard.It was only terminated on January 7, 2012, after 10 days as nothing came out of the search operation launched with the help of ships and aircraft. The operation suffered in one area. Sorties could not be flown from Porbandar airport during twilight hours and aircraft were flying in and out of other platforms, airports and bases that were located in Daman, Goa and Mumbai. The rescue and relief operation was under strain.Had Porbandar airport been operational during night as well, the rescue and search flights in the twilight hours could have been more frequent and extended and lot of man hours and aviation fuel could have been saved. At present, flying operations stop at Porbandar airport in the afternoon. The aircraft of Indian Coast Guard and the unmanned aerial vehicles of Indian Navy operate only for certain hours as Porbandar airport has been certified for day operations only. This incident shows why it is necessary to make Porbandar airport, which is under the control of Airport Authority of India, functional for 24X7 hours.