Hopes for locating the Coast Guard Dornier aircraft that went missing on June 8 brightened on Saturday. A Navy survey ship picked up intermittent signals, believed to be emitted from the sonar locator beacon of the aircraft, and spotted oil spills that are being tested to determine whether they are from the ill-fated plane. The Dornier was on a routine coastal reconnaissance sortie and went missing 90 nautical miles off Chennai where it was supposed to land after completing the mission.
According to the Coast Guard (CG) on Saturday, Sandhyak, an Indian Navy survey ship, detected the “intermittent transmission likely to be from the sonar locator beacon of the missing aircraft.” One of the aircraft in the search and rescue team also came across multi-coloured sheen of oil in concentrated circles which the Coast Guard authorities believe is from the missing aircraft. The samples have been sent for analysis.
The beacon is device fitted to the aviation flight recorders such as cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder or even the fuselage of the aircraft. The beacon gets triggered by water immersion, according to aeronautical engineers. The Coast Guard also said the transmission signals were from the position where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar lost contact with the aircraft on Monday evening. Following the development, Sindhudhvaj, the submarine belonging to the Indian Navy, has moved to the region for augmenting the sub-surface search.
In addition to the ships and aircraft from the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy engaged in the search and rescue operation, a research ship owned by the National Institute of Ocean Technology is expected to join the operation. In addition, Reliance India limited (RIl) was approached to extend services of its Multi Support Vessel (MSV) with Remotely Operable Underwater Vehicle (ROV) for underwater operations.
A total of 10 Coast Guard and Navy ships with two aircraft are undertaking the search for the missing aircraft till now, the Coast Guard pointed out. Family members of the crew DS Vidyasagar (pilot), Subash Suresh (co-pilot) - both Master Green Pilots each having clocked over 3,000 km of flying hours - and MK Soni (observer) are keeping their fingers crossed and praying for the safe return of their dear ones.
Dr CG Krishnadas Nair, former managing director of Hindustan Aeronautics ltd (HAl), which manufactures the Dornier aircraft for the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard under licence from the German company, told The Pioneer that it was a good aircraft with a proven track record. “The reason for the crash, if it has happened, has to be found out. One cannot blame the Dornier as it has been serving both the Navy and the CG for quite some time now,” said Dr Nair.