The Last flight I was in INAS 333 during the last leg of my service with the Indian navy. The Kamov 25 helicopters had rendered more than 20 years of uninterrupted service to the country by then. The aging aircrafts started giving problems. Almost every day I used to encounter troubles with the different systems of the Kamov25 helicopters and hence life was busy. As the Autopilot, Navigational, Antisubmarine systems gave troubles almost everyday, I was up in the sky on these aircrafts every second day for check test flights for checking the serviceability of those systems. Hence, I was fortunate to criss cross the length and breadth of the Goan skies on these beautiful birds many times. But the most memorable one is the last flight which I had on the Kamov 25s. It was October 2000 and I had only 2 months of service remaining in the Navy. The INAS 333 squadron was ordered to be shifted to INS Dega alongwith the KA 25 helicopters, as the Easter Naval Command did not have any AntiSubmarine helicopter squadron.. Being left with less than 2 months service, I was not supposed to be sent on Ty. Duty anywhere, but the squadron commander insisted that I accompany the aircrafts to vizag and stay there for 2 weeks to help set up the squadron there. Came D-day for the last two Kamov25 aircrafts to flyout from the squadron to Vizag.I was in the aircraft piloted by the Squadron Commander who was incidentally the son of an Artificer and hence had great regards for artificers. We were briefed that the aircrafts will touch down at Belgaum for the first refueling and then at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad for refueling and night halt at the Airforce station there. Both the aircrafts took off from Dabolim Airport, Goa. The flight from Goa to Belgaum was incident free. We had a quick refuelling and both the aircrafts took off . The next halt was to be at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad. An hour after take off from Belgaum, the Squadron Commander, who was on the Pilot’s seat, called me and pointed at the Alarm panel in the cockpit. A shock ran down my spine. “No.1 Generator FAIL” alarm was flashing. That means out of the two generators one was down and the aircraft was flying on only one generator. He looked at me and asked “AB KYA KAREN.” I was confident that the aircraft can fly safe with one generator. But what if that generator too failed? And the entire stretch from Belgaum to Hyderabad was of small town and villages. An emergency landing there would lead to a lot of surprises, confusions and enquiries. I didn’t want to be involved in all these dramas during the last leg of my Naval Service. I quickly looked at the records and understood that the running generator was overhauled recently and had flown less than 100 hours. I advised him that we can fly on one generator till Hyderabad and the faulty generator can be fixed at Hyderabad. The Squadron commander also agreed . I came back and took my seat. But all the way, I was disturbed..One for the fact that the helo was flying on a single generator and secondly what if the faulty generator could not be fixed at Hyderabad. Filled with fear and Anxiety, all of us sat in the helo till it touched down safely at Begumpet airport at 6.30 pm. It was already sunset and no major jobs can be done. The Squadron commander adviced me to quickly sort out the generator problem. I opened the Generator panel( I don’t remember the Russian name of the panel now). I checked the panel with reference to the circuit diagram I had with me. To my surprise I found that the screw connecting Earth/Negative return wire of the generator to the aircraft body had loosened due to vibration and had disconnected the wire. I quickly tightened the screw and asked the pilot to give a ground run to check the generator and found it working fine. That night I went to the Airforce SNCOs’ mess and had a peg extra to rejoice my realisation that a small screw can put our life in danger. The aircrafts flew safely from Begumpet to Vishakapatnam the next day to a Ceremonial Reception at INS Dega.. Lesson learned: Every screw and washer contributes to the safe flying of an aircraft. I left service in Jan 2001, But the Ka25s served the country for another 7 -8 years by keeping an EAGLE’S EYE on the Eastern Coast of India. After being decommissioned, they are presently on display at Naval Museum, Goa and Naval Institute Of AviationTechnology (NIAT). RIP KAMOV 25.
santosh V Santosh Kumar
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KAMOV 25 ... My Last Flight....Narration Santosh Kumar

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The Last flight

I was in INAS 333 during the last leg of my service with the Indian navy. The Kamov 25
helicopters had rendered more than 20 years of uninterrupted service to the country by
then. The aging aircrafts started giving problems. Almost every day I used to encounter troubles with the different systems of the Kamov25 helicopters and hence life was busy.

As the Autopilot, Navigational, Antisubmarine systems gave troubles almost everyday, I was up in the sky on these aircrafts every second day for check test flights for checking the serviceability of those systems. Hence, I was fortunate to criss cross the length and breadth of the Goan skies on these beautiful birds many times. But the most memorable one is the last flight which I had on the Kamov 25s.

It was October 2000 and I had only 2 months of service remaining in the Navy. The INAS 333 squadron was ordered to be shifted to INS Dega alongwith the KA 25 helicopters, as the Easter Naval Command did not have any AntiSubmarine helicopter squadron.. Being left with less than 2 months service, I was not supposed to be sent on Ty. Duty anywhere, but the squadron commander insisted that I accompany the aircrafts to vizag and stay there for 2 weeks to help set up the squadron there.

Came D-day for the last two Kamov25 aircrafts to flyout from the squadron to Vizag.I was in the aircraft piloted by the Squadron Commander who was incidentally the son of an Artificer and hence had great regards for artificers. We were briefed that the aircrafts will touch down at Belgaum for the first refueling and then at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad for refueling and night halt at the Airforce station there.

Both the aircrafts took off from Dabolim Airport, Goa. The flight from Goa to Belgaum was incident free. We had a quick refuelling and both the aircrafts took off . The next halt was to be at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad.

An hour after take off from Belgaum, the Squadron Commander, who was on the Pilot’s seat, called me and pointed at the Alarm panel in the cockpit. A shock ran down my spine.

“No.1 Generator FAIL” alarm was flashing.

That means out of the two generators one was down and the aircraft was flying on only one generator.

He looked at me and asked “AB KYA KAREN.”

I was confident that the aircraft can fly safe with one generator. But what if that generator too failed?

And the entire stretch from Belgaum to Hyderabad was of small town and villages. An emergency landing there would lead to a lot of surprises, confusions and enquiries. I didn’t want to be involved in all these dramas during the last leg of my Naval Service.

I quickly looked at the records and understood that the running generator was overhauled recently and had flown less than 100 hours. I advised him that we can fly on one generator till Hyderabad and the faulty generator can be fixed at Hyderabad.

The Squadron commander also agreed . I came back and took my seat. But all the way, I was disturbed..One for the fact that the helo was flying on a single generator and secondly what if the faulty generator could not be fixed at Hyderabad.

Filled with fear and Anxiety, all of us
sat in the helo till it touched down safely at Begumpet airport at 6.30 pm. It was already sunset and no major jobs can be done.

The Squadron commander adviced me to quickly sort out the generator problem. I opened the Generator panel( I don’t remember the Russian name of the panel now). I checked the panel with reference to the circuit diagram I had with me. To my surprise I found that the screw connecting Earth/Negative return wire of the generator to the aircraft body had loosened due to vibration and had disconnected the wire. I quickly tightened the screw and asked the pilot to give a ground run to check the generator and found it working fine.

That night I went to the Airforce SNCOs’ mess and had a peg extra to rejoice my realisation that a small screw can put our life in danger. The aircrafts flew safely from Begumpet to Vishakapatnam the next day to a Ceremonial Reception at INS Dega..

Lesson learned: Every screw and washer contributes to the safe flying of an aircraft.
I left service in Jan 2001, But the Ka25s served the country for another 7 -8 years by keeping an EAGLE’S EYE on the Eastern Coast of India. After being decommissioned, they are presently on display at Naval Museum, Goa and Naval Institute Of AviationTechnology

(NIAT).

RIP KAMOV 25.

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