Would Nepal progressively mature as one of the most competent tourism nucleus for the world without the development in efficient transportation systems and conscious approach towards accentuating him exquisiteness of our country’s prime destinations? Today’s digital globalization, that internet search engines are at the palm of almost every living individual, made the world extensively cognizant about Nepal, its culture and the beautiful nature that our country so fondly possesses in its every cubic inches. While some visitors from several of the world’s diverse realm arrive in our homeland with innate prospect of witnessing the vista of gigantic Mount Everest and some turn up with the spiritual sense of pilgrimage visits to our religious Hindu and Buddhist temples such as Pashupatinath, Swoyambhu, Muktinath,Kailash Mansarovar visit through Nepal, just to name few as there are many other temples and gumbas which drags the dynamic pilgrims from all over the world. Efficient transportation system purports providing an effective, comfortable and time saving way of travel for any voyager or traveller. As we all know, Nepal is divided into three regions – the gifted snow-covered Himalayan region, green and lush Mountainous region and the irrigational Terai or flat region, which clearly tells us that the two-third portion of our nation has geographically complex structure.
The roadway construction though difficult to conceptualize and build. But Nepal has put up several highways such as Mahendra Highway, Friendship Highway connecting China and Nepal, Araniko Highway, Kodari Highway, Siddhartha Highway, and others that are still being planned and proposed, courtesy of which our country’s existing sustainable survival is being achieved. But, these already laid out highway over country’s land has not extended its branch in the upper sector of our beloved country. Situation would have been at a dire state, had there been no medium of air transport. Air transport invention and utility is bursting out of the orbit state in today’s world. The global technology around the globe has impeccably strengthened the air force of individual country and the mutual development of commercial aircraft have made us feel inside that “The world is not enough” – heard the name somewhere in the midst of Hollywood’s Bond series. Anyways coming back to point, we have seen only through television courtesy of Discovery and Nat Geo channels that there are several forms of air machines that have been formulated, designed and being flown. But here in Nepal, there are only two forms of aircrafts – Fixed wing and Rotary wing. Airplanes are called fixed wings and helicopters are classified as rotary wings. Fixed wing requires a certain smooth ground or runway where it runs both to fly and land. A certain ground equipped with safety systems and control towers to communicate are the two mandatory basic requirement for a fixed wing aircraft operation. Whereas the rotary wing does not need any ground of running dimension to be airborne and get itself securely on ground. This simple definition of these two different types of air machines most literally gives us a common-sense idea that the use of rotary wings or helicopters are quintessential to Nepali sky. Today when flight is literally thought by any common man, airplane dominates the figure that develops in his mind. The sleek narrow body with wide wings and a slender fish like tail at its back whistling past the runway with a roar and lifting itself up from the earth is that marvellous sight that is so familiar to everyone. Yes this reflection is the foremost expression of aviation for the world, but one of the most significant contributions of aviation to human kind is vertical lift that is produced by rotorcraft or helicopter. Nepal is a small country which is undoubtedly the home of the world’s largest colossal ranges of Himalayas and mountains. We used to study back in our Social Studies that Himalayas are the ones with snow and mountains are the ones that are covered with greeneries and forests, so please understand likewise. The beautiful ranges of these Himalayas and mountains are the most magnificently extraordinary sites to our eyes and the world’s eyes but one cannot imagine how hard it is for the human lives that live and spend their whole life in the lap and arms of those gigantic natural structures. Here, airplanes fly over them and appease our eye with its panoramic view but a helicopter actually lands there and lets them know that they are not alone when in need. Helicopter lifts itself from the earth by spinning at least a pair of blades made of composites, making it a whirling disc of diameter almost the length of the helicopter’s body and creating a pressure difference between the surface above and below that revolving disc at the top of its body.
Two blades of comparatively almost one fifth smaller in length than the blades spinning at the top counteract the torque or revolving force created in the body of the helicopter. This is the general principle through which the most remarkable achievement of aviation leaped into the world of vertical lift. Vertical lift simply took the application of aerodynamics for the benefit of mankind into the orbit – possibility of saving human lives came into the picture through this capability. Construction at world’s most difficult of places was possible, man’s hope to reach from the heights of Everest to almost anywhere in the enormous Pacific ocean came alive. The capability of helicopter to stay stationary at any point in air inside troposphere granted a simple man to become a god like feature to another man. A man comes out of helicopter, ties itself in a sling rope and slowly moves down through hoist attached at the bottom of helicopter and goes down at any altitude to save another man at any location around earth. Yes, this operation can be modified into carrying cargos, loads, constructing materials, scientific structures, communication antennas, vehicles or any calculated possibilities. But, saving life has to be the best contribution that the helicopter will continue to provide for earth’s inhabitants which in context of Nepal’s geographical location in this planet Earth, is most inevitable. After 82 years on the 12th hour of the 12th day of Baishakh of year 2072 (25th April 2015), arrived at the perusal of Nepali people, the most devastating earthquake that shook the central part of our country from its roots. The released energy at the magnitude of 7.8 Richter scale tore apart most of our cultural heritage sites of Kathmandu and its outskirts. The mountainous areas of Gorkha, villages of Dhading, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, places around Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Kirtipur and Bhaktapur were badly damaged by the devastating vibrating shockwaves of the earthquake. The Mount Everest Base camp and Langtang village were swamped by the fall of rocks and glaciers in the Himalayas. Thousands of people lost their precious lives, injured were scattered everywhere and more than hundreds of thousands of lives were seriously affected this so called psycho trauma of the hundreds of repetitive reduced magnitude aftershocks for about a week. In the mean-time as the aftershocks went down in its magnitude though repeated at irregular intervals, rescue mission was initiated by Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Army both inside and outside of the valley. Then, the nationwide relief fund programs for the victims and international support from countries all over the world fleeted rampantly. Foods, tents, blankets, bed sheets, medicines and other medical supplies were all collected from various national and international organizations which were made ready to dispatch. The places inside the valley were immediately reached but the confounded areas outside the valley which were located in the tough geographical regions would have been left alone had there been no invention of helicopters in this world. People saw them all over the sky, pilots raising the collective pitch of the blade, increasing the throttle with deep emotions in their heart for their countrymen and pressing the rudder pedal hard to counter the powerful torque felt by the helicopter’s body, and whistling past near above the houses that were empty as everyone stayed outside due to the constant fear of expected huge aftershock of the everdevastating earthquake. When we as conscious countrymen look at this situation, we wonder why there are only few private helicopter companies in our geographically complex country and even our Nepal army possesses very few of them. We only wish for that day when our government has more than fifteen helicopters that stands by in all five regions from east to west just to save lives and ready for emergency, somewhat like coastguards in the countries that are bounded by massive seas and oceans. Yes, the question here is every situation or every idea that is thought and implemented has its positives and negatives as the misuse of helicopters by the powerful men of our country is very much possible after that. So why not a coastguard like separate “Saving Lives” organization to be budgeted by our nation. But, in reality we all know that this situation to be seen in our country is a distant dream, but I am sure if this sort of organization will ever be!!
