When the tough gets going...

KOLKATA: Captain Arun Karandikar is no stranger to crisis situations. With 38 years of flying experience under his belt, this former air commodore has been the prime motivator of relief flights to Port Blair being operated by Indian Airlines.
"My colleagues have been clocking eight hours of flying since Sunday. Most pilots operating on this circuit are specially certified to fly planes into the Andamans.They are highly-motivated and have kept remarkably calm under the circumstances," says Karandikar.
"The earthquake damaged the runaway at Port Blair; only 6,000 feet out 11,000 feet is operational. Under such circumstances, only Boeing 737s can operate," he explains.
Did his air force background help in dealing with this crisis?
"Yes, it probably helped me motivate my fellow pilots," he added.
The Indian Airlines staff too has given it their best shot. "We operated 17 relief flights, between Kolkata and Chennai since Sunday morning. Another 14 flights are expected to operate on Wednesday. Till Tuesday, over 2,000 people were evacuated and 560 kgs of relief material, mainly medicines and drinking water were carried," informs Sekhar Ghosh, regional director, East, Indian Airlines.