Outlook – June 29, 2019

1 July 2019 OUTLOOK 11

and the entire Northeast to climb Mount

Everest, agrees that the unpredictable

weather is the “most difficult part”. “You

study the weather report and go some-

where, but the weather would have

changed by the time you reach there,”

sys Mena, who climbed the world’s

highest peak in 2011. “The mountains

are covered by dense forest, which is

possibly why it is always foggy.”

IAF aircraft carry supplies for the defe-

nce personnel posted in the far-flung

areas along the Indo-China border, often

unconnected by motorable roads, as well

as for the civilians there. Angry about

defence personnel losing lives, Wing

Commander (retd) Gyati Kago, who bel-

ongs to Arunachal, wants the whole avia-

tion set-up in the state to be re-organised

for creating a safe flying environment.

“Every aircraft must be equipped with

modern equipment such as colour

Doppler radar, Traffic Collision Avoid-

ance System or Terrain Awareness and

Warning System, Enhanced Ground

Proximity Warning Systems and service-

able Emergency Locator Transmitter

(ELT),” says Kago, adding that the crashed

An-32 had a faulty ELT that didn’t help in

locating the crash site. The former IAF

officer, who retired in 2012, alleges that

the ELT could not be replaced due to red

tape in the defence ministry.

The locals, used to the hostile terrain,

have always helped in rescue missions.

After an Mi-17 chopper located the An-

32’s crash site at an altitude of 12,000 ft

on the Pari hills in Siang district, the IAF

asked local mountaineers, including

Mena, to trek all the way. “It is impossi-

ble to get close to the site without local

help,” says Obang Mibang, nodal officer

of the Systematic Voters’ Education and

Elect oral Participation programme in

adjoining Upper Siang district, who had

travelled for four months, much of it on

foot, to cover 68 polling stations before

the general elections. “Science and

technology are helpless here. Only locals

fam iliar with ever-changing situations

can proceed with calculated risks. The

forests are also full of deadly animals.”

Last heard, the black box comprising

cockpit voice recorder and the flight data

recorder had been retrieved. The rema-

ins of the passengers and the crew were

yet to be found. O

BURMA

BHUTAN

BANGLADESH

B A Y

O F

BENGAL

NEPAL

CHINA

INDIA

CHINA

Golaghat

Jorhat

Dinjan

Hump Route

THE HUMP

Kunming

Itanagar

ARUNACHAL

PRADESH

ASSAM

When the air force’s Antonov
An-32 military transport aircraft
disappeared in Arunachal
Pradesh on June 3, it wasn’t
the first to fly into what airmen
since World War II have been
calling the ‘graveyard’ of planes.

HISTORY & THE HUMP
The legend of the Hump began
between 1942 and 1945, during

US operations against Japanese

forces in China by crossing the

tallest mountains of the North

East Frontier Agency (NEFA) or

present-day Arunachal Pradesh

in the eastern Himalayas.

Eighty one per cent of

supplies entering China

went from Assam, over the

Hump. Aircraft flew from the

busiest air strips during World

War II—Chabua, Dinjan and

Doomdooma, 100 km south of

Mechuka in Arunachal by air.

LOST & MOSTLY UNFOUND

509 planes were lost in the Hump

operations during World War II,

plus 81 still ‘missing in action’

in official records. 1,314 crew

members died and 345 are still

‘missing in action’.

THE DEATH TRAP

In the Hump and its adjoining

areas, pilots encounter

unpredict able weather with

low-hanging clouds and

torrential rain, a rugged terrain

(snow-capped peaks jutting

from deep gorges and thick

forests), winds at speeds up

to 250mph, and thermal drafts

causing turbulence.

JOURNEY’S END

Crash site of the IAF An-

that took off from Jorhat

Map not to scale