IAF Lands An-32 Aircraft On Strategically Vital Airstrip Near Border With China In Uttarakhand

The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully landed an AN-32 military transport aircraft at the strategically important Chinyalisaur airstrip in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district after visibility improved in the region on Tuesday (19 December).

Efforts were underway for the past three days to land the 56-seater aircraft at the airstrip, but it could not be done due to poor visibility, an IAF official said requesting anonymity. The airstrip is located near India’s border with China.

Air Commodore S Banerjee of the Central Air Command expressed happiness over the aircraft's successful landing at the strategically important airstrip.

Earlier, an IAF team from the command and the aviation department had inspected the airstrip to find if it was fit for landing such an aircraft.

Inspections had also been conducted yesterday by an IAF team from Bengaluru.

Ninety-five per cent of the work on the 1,165 metre-long and 30 metre-wide Chinyalisaur airstrip is through, an official said, adding that work on an ATC tower, a terminal and levelling of the area around the runway remains to be done.

The airstrip is not just strategically important but also crucial from the point of view of disasters, he said. (PTI)