Satish Kumar

Biography

Sergeant Satish Kumar hailed from Kasni in Rajasthan. He was enrolled into the Indian Air Force in September 2007 and served for a decade, working at various Air Force bases while operating diverse aircraft and associated systems. By 2017 he was serving with a helicopter unit under the Eastern Air Command, which operated the Mi-17 transport helicopter — an aircraft used extensively for air transport and logistics missions. During October 2017, Sgt Satish Kumar was posted to 157 Helicopter Unit, equipped with the Mi-17 V5 and based at Air Force Station Barrackpore in West Bengal. At that time several Indian Army units were deployed in far-flung areas of the northeast where no motorable roads existed, and most supplies to them depended on airdrops carried out by the Indian Air Force as Air Maintenance operations. On 6 October 2017, Sgt Satish Kumar was detailed as flight gunner and flight engineer for one such mission, alongside pilots Wing Commander Vikas Upadhyay and Squadron Leader Shishir Tewari, flight gunner MWO A K Singh, and Army personnel Sepoy H N Deka and Sepoy E Balaji. The crew's Mi-17 V5 took off from Khirmu helipad in Tawang district, carrying supplies to forward posts in the Topokhar area near Yangste, over a flight path vulnerable to sudden and dangerous weather changes. It was the second air maintenance sortie of the day. At around 6 AM, as supplies were being dropped about 120 km north of Tawang, the net holding jerry cans of kerosene became entangled in the aircraft's rear rotor. The helicopter caught fire instantly and crashed, giving the pilots no chance to react. Sgt Satish Kumar and all others on board were killed. He was a committed and professionally competent air warrior who laid down his life in the service of the nation.