Inside the Russian Courier: A Tale, It’s the rescuer for soldiers

It’s the rescuer for soldiers. Troops are dispatched by courier, as the Army felt pity for them and treated them with compassion, thereby issuing a boarding pass. The induction of Russian cargo IL-76 had begun in the late 1980s to ease out transportation in the far-flung areas of Leh, Guwahati, and Car-Nic. Also, the huge military bird has missions ranging from dropping paratroopers to carrying combat materials, battle tanks, and airlifting disaster relief operations. It’s not an ordinary flight. IAF has the Soviet Union’s Ilyushin-Gajraj, which takes longer runways (1600m) to take off at one of the slowest speeds. It’s equipped with radar warning, jammers, and guns too. a high-flying airframe designed to withstand substantial damage from missiles and machine guns too.

There comes a time during every soldier’s move towards operational readiness when the service exigencies of the forces demand The worst fear is that they will face the passage at Transit Camp for the strange Jammu-Srinagar route, stretching the lines of Army convoys under the threat of guns and horror. It sometimes freaked them out while they were moving on short notice. IAF’s IL76 takes off with Army personnel on these routes.

In the 1990s, I was once off for a short casual leave. As ATC Leh confirmed a courier movement at noon, I hurriedly packed my kitbag and reached Delhi in the evening. After an overnight stay on Friday night at Subroto Park, I reached the courier gate at 5 in the morning, hoping for an airlift. The list was longer as there was a request from Sena Bhawan at the last moment. Besides the 200+ green lists, there were a hundred in waiting. To my dismay, there wasn’t a chance to get a boarding pass. It wasn’t even figured out on the next call. I got disheartened soon after the courier gate was closed at 6:00 a.m.

Yet I didn’t lose hope, as I had carried a free railway warrant. In the meantime, a man in a blue G-suit walked over to the gate and knocked vigorously. I guessed he would be the pilot, and I took advantage. "Sir, the gate is already closed, and I'm the only one left". "Oh, I see. You want to fly in my aircraft". The group captain smiled, took me by his side through the wicked gate, and directed the COO to issue me a boarding pass on priority. My patience is exhausted but jubilant at last.

The aircraft was fully loaded with cargo and confirmed passengers to carry a payload of 40 tonnes over a range of 5000 km. However, there were still passengers waiting. ETD 07:30 hours was scheduled, but there was a delay. The captain was in a hurry as the projection time got delayed, which he finally overcame by defueling the aircraft to accommodate more passengers. The queue lined up, and slim commuters separated for overload in that massive transport. That made us fall over with laughter. Wasn’t it funny picking a thin guy to calculate capacity for ATF to defuel?

The leftovers were pushed back as the four-engine turbojet created enormous thrust, but we finally entered through heavy military hardware, an overhead cargo crane suspended from an electrically powered rail. It had no luxury inside. It’s outfitted with traditional airline-type seats, but you sit on the troop benches instead. A line of hard seats folded along the fuselage, and load-carrying capacity tightened between benches. A pair of benches upstairs was placed face-to-face. The last 30 couldn’t find a seat and stood like Mumbai locals. But soon the telegraph went up hydraulically, and the roller conveyer made sufficient arrangements for those hapless passengers.

"Welcome onboard Flight XXX from Palam to Guwahati". The pre-flight announcement came in the air. The captain, co-pilot, and navigator take the huge aircraft to its destination. While the cabin got pressurized, the uncomfortable pressure blocked our ears; the flight dimmed the light and slowly took off. The higher, the better; it flies faster at high altitudes. "We are cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet, going up to 35,000 if we see anything big; the weather looks good; we are expecting to land after 2 hours and 10 minutes". Unlike commercials, there was no safety briefing, no air hostess, and no refreshment. And I dozed off quickly after a few minutes.

Suddenly I experienced a quick drop in the air, falling from the sky, that caused my stomach to flip. It was an air pocket. It doesn’t technically exist. When a plane on autopilot encounters varying airflow, warm air rises and cool air descends. The air temperature was minus 54°C outside, and we felt like we were in a frozen hell from the makeshift seat ladder. As the plane flew over an escape flight path over the chicken neck of the Himalayas, the passengers faced a bumpy ride over the clouds. The courier finally approached the path very soon after crossing the Brahmaputra. With no seat belt, it touched down safely but with a hard landing. The combatant military helped to resist such snags during courier days. The Russian Courier has indeed endured through our times.

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