JMPD Cunha

Biography

Lieutenant Colonel JMPD Cunha was born on 18 July 1966. After graduating from Hansraj College, University of Delhi, he joined the Indian Army and was commissioned in 1990 into the 193 Field Regiment of the Regiment of Artillery. He later moved to the Army Aviation Corps, where he qualified as a helicopter pilot and served with distinction as both an operational pilot and a flying instructor. On 24 May 2007, Lieutenant Colonel Cunha was piloting a Cheetah helicopter of the 661 Army Aviation Squadron on a reconnaissance mission in the Karcham region of the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. During the flight the helicopter's rotor blades struck high-voltage power lines strung across the mountainous terrain. The aircraft crashed and caught fire, and Lieutenant Colonel Cunha lost his life along with his co-pilot, Major Puneet Karol. Lieutenant Colonel JMPD Cunha laid down his life in the line of duty, in the finest traditions of the Army Aviation Corps.