Mumbai Terror: Air dropping of NSG commandos a demanding task

The air-dropping of NSG commandos on Nariman House, where militants are holed up, was a daunting task for the IAF chopper pilots as they had to maintain very high levels of accuracy for daylight commando descent.

"Holding the helicopter at one place was a difficult proposition because one has to keep the chopper absolutely steady while commandos slithered down on top of that building," Indian Air Force spokesman Wing Commander M Upasani said.

The pilots had to ensure the safety of descending commandos as they had could have come under fire from terrorists, he said.

"The pilots had to steer clear from all possible areas or angles from which gunfire was expected," he told reporters.

The IAF was called out early this morning for air-dropping of commandos on Nariman House as the armed militants posed stiff resistance to the advancing security personnel.

Fear about the security of hostages was prime on the minds of elite NSG which adopted a cautious approach during the operations. The IAF equipped with multi-utility choppers completed the operation with utmost accuracy.

"They are multi-utility MI-18/MI-17 helicopters. They are not gunships. However, they have some armament carrying capability," Upasani said.

When asked about the personnel carrying capacity of the choppers, the IAF officer said they could shuttle "any number of people" as naval ship INS Kunjali was quite closeby.

"As you know INS Kunjali is quite closeby and if required it they can carry any number of people in a couple of shuttles," he said.

Refusing to comment on the time factor for wrapping up the operations, he said that they had to keep an element of surprise for operational reasons.