No ATC, no radar: Kedar pilots rely on eyesight in hostile airspace
Dehradun: There is no air traffic control, no radar coverage, and no real-time weather monitoring at Kedarnath — yet helicopters fly in and out daily during yatra season, relying on visual cues and radio calls in one of India's most dangerous air corridors.
Before the DGCA stepped in last week and capped helicopter sorties to nine per hour, the skies over Kedarnath witnessed as many as 250–300 sorties daily. Following the implementation of the new regulation, the district administration reported that 152 sorties was implemented on Saturday.
That fragile system failed again on Sunday, when a Bell 407 helicopter operated by Aryan Aviation crashed near Gaurikund, killing all seven people onboard.
The chopper had taken off from Kedarnath at 5:18am and lost control minutes later, reportedly after encountering low visibility due to sudden clouding.
"This is a high-risk zone with zero aviation infrastructure," said a senior helicopter pilot with over a decade of experience on the Char Dham circuit. "No ATC, no radar, no on-ground IMD presence. Pilots are flying blind."
After a similar fatal crash in 2022, authorities had announced several steps.
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Rahul Choubey, nodal officer for chopper services, told TOI that three fixed cameras had been installed on the Kedar route — at the entry point, Rudra point, and the base camp — to help pilots assess conditions before flying. UCADA also introduced an Airworthiness Operating System to monitor flight operations.
But experts said those measures fall far short of international safety norms. In its report on the 2022 crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) noted the absence of aviation-grade forecasting and centralised flight coordination.
Flights were managed only by operator-level communication and UCADA-issued slots, without any regulatory oversight.
Raman Jeet Singh, wife of Captain Anil Singh — who died in the 2022 crash — told TOI: "These aren't freak accidents. My husband flew without radar, without terrain-mapping, in unpredictable weather. It's always a gamble. Until Kedarnath gets proper aviation systems and strict SOPs, pilots will keep flying blind — and dying."
A proposed MoU between UCADA and IMD to establish a dedicated meteorological station at Kedarnath never materialised. Bikram Singh, director of the regional meteorological centre, told TOI, "The MoU could not be signed because Kedarnath doesn't have ATC. IMD can only provide aviation-grade forecasts to facilities managed by the Airports Authority of India."
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