The Hindu Business Line : Flight controversy peaks

WITH even a marriage solemnised on its summit, the current climbing season on Everest may have trivialised the peak like never before. Among the more engaging controversies the season spawned has been one about the highest helicopter take-off claimed to date, a claim rejected by Nepalese authorities a week ago, but still hosted on the aircraft manufacturer's Web site.

In its statement Eurocopter, said, "On May 14, 2005, at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/A Star AS 350 B3 piloted by Eurocopter X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet) on the top of Mount Everest." It said that the chopper remained "landed" on the summit for more than two minutes, as required by the Federation Aeronatique Internationale (FAI), before flying back to where it had begun its journey — Lukla at 2,866 metres (9,403 feet).

The feat was repeated the next day. Eurocopter said that the record was achieved further to various test flights with the Ecureuil/A Star AS350 B3 begun one year ago, including experimental flight up to 8,992 metres (29,500 ft) in April 2004, `time to climb' records to heights of 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 metres and an experimental flight up to 10,211 metres (33,500 ft) in April 2005, and landing at the "South Pass" of Everest at 7,925 metres (26,000 ft) on May 12, 2005.

The company said it had submitted Delsalle's records to FAI for approval. On June 3, the Web site everestnews.com raised a question shared by those who saw photographs of the chopper on the summit. Usually pictures of the summit show Everest's South East Ridge running to it. In Delsalle's summit photograph taken from a camera mounted under his chopper, the summit looked flat.

In a delayed response to the Web site's queries, Delsalle maintained that he had done a "hover landing" on the summit with the skids in contact with the ground for three minutes and 50 seconds. "I don't know which video you have received but Everest summit is clearly recognisable to my point of view," he said. The master copies of the video, he added, had been submitted to the FAI for record validation.

Everestnews.com said it had received word from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) that the chopper landing on Everest's summit had not been confirmed. On June 3, others too, reported the same from CAAN, mentioning alongside that Delsalle made only an emergency landing some 1,000 metres lower at the South Col. Interestingly in these reports, CAAN harps a lot of permission not being originally granted for landing on the peak.

Delsalle's claimed take-off from Everest's summit can still be seen among rotorcraft records awaiting validation on the FAI web site. All seven claims under his name bore the qualification — file not yet received. From the same validation-awaited category, the record Delsalle would beat if his claims get approved was from India. According to the site, on November 1, 2004, an SA 315 Lama helicopter piloted by A.S. Butola had taken off from 7,665 metres on the Saser Kangri peak (the chopper, locally called Cheetah was from the IAF). The Indian entry had the qualification — additional information requested and not yet received.

So, do these high altitude landings, or perhaps claims, matter? Or, are they simply instances of chest thumping by the boys?

Flying helicopters at high altitude is difficult given the poor lift caused by the rarefied atmosphere. Beck Weathers, an American doctor who survived severe exposure and frost bite on Everest, in 1996, wrote this in his book, Left For Dead, about Lieutenant Colonel Madan K.C. of the Royal Nepalese Army, who flew a Eurocopter Squirrel to evacuate Weathers from Camp 1: "Madan is to me the most extraordinary person in this story, because he didn't know me at all. He didn't know my family, and he has his own family, for whom he is the sole provider. We were separated by language, by culture, by religion, by the entire breadth of this world, but bound together by a bond of common humanity. This man will never have to wonder again whether he has a brave heart.''

At the crux of May's contested claim, lay the potential to reduce suffering on high mountains. And nothing can be more painful than a bluff in the face of suffering. As everestnews.com noted, "It is a huge shame to see such a great achievement reported so strangely."

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