Wing Commander Balakrishna Pillai Sreebhavan Krishan Kumar is posted as the Commanding Officer of a Mi-8 Flight at Air Force Station, Car Nicobar since 08 November 2004. On 26 December 2004, Air Force Station Car Nicobar was devastated by a severe earthquake, which was followed by a Tsunami. Wing Commander Krishna Kumar’s house was one of the first to be engulfed and destroyed by the tidal waves. After having faced a near death situation and surviving the same, Wing Commander Krishna Kumar lost no time in getting airborne, to take stock of the situation and to carry out search and rescue operations.

On getting airborne, Wing Commander Krishna Kumar saw the havoc being wrecked by 30 feet high tidal waves and realized that time was at premium. He immediately commenced rescuing families and personnel stranded on balconies, rooftops and high ground before the tsunamis could demolish or engulf the structures. Rescue operations by winching up and evacuation by landing was getting dangerous by the minutes and as the water was consuming everything in sight. In spite of his own traumatic escape from near death situation, Wing Commander Krishna Kumar kept the composure and displayed extreme courage and professionalism by continuing to manouevre the helicopter under marginal safety conditions, thereby saving approximately 400 lives. In subsequent days, despite losing all his belongings in the Tsunami, Wing Commander Krishna flew numerous sorties to provide relief and succour to thousands affected not only in Car Nicobar but also in the rest of the Nicobar group of islands.

Wing Commander Balakrishna Pillai Sreebhavan Krishan Kumar displayed extraordinary courage, conspicuous gallantry and compassion to fellow beings in the face of heavy odds in a natural disaster.

On 26 December 2004, Air Force Station Car Nicobar was devastated by a severe earthquake followed by Tsunamis. In a short span of time, the dangerous wave engulfed the area. Flight Lieutenant Arisetty Vijay Kumar realizing the danger of the devastating waves risked his life for saving the personnel. He rushed to stranded personnel and led them to the runway, which was the highest point on the airfield, knowing that any delay could have endangered his own life. His courageous and brave actions helped to save the life of many personnel. After the devastating Tsunami the entire Air Force Station was in a great trauma due to massive loss of lives and property. Buildings had collapsed and trees uprooted. Immediately after that Flight Lieutenant Vijay Kumar started up a helicopter expeditiously for rescue mission. Flying as Co-Pilot to the Commanding Officer, under difficult flying conditions and limited safety margins, he displayed courage of a very high order and continued with rescue, despite risk to his own life. He flew for three hours continuously. Undeterred by fatigue and the danger of flying in extreme adverse conditions, Flight Lieutenant Vijay Kumar undertook the rescue tasks despite all odds and difficulties. Though the safety margins for flying were dangerously low, he dared to fly and winched up stranded personnel from rooftops, balconies and radar ramp where the area was extremely restricted. His actions in the face of natural calamity were a morale booster to others who emulated him in further rescuing the personnel.

Flight Lieutenant Arisetty Vijay Kumar displayed raw courage, gallantry and selfless devotion to the fellow beings, in the face of heavy odds in a natural disaster.

Squadron Leader Philip Jacob (15725) Flying (Pilot) is the Flight Commander of a Helicopter Unit and is on the posted strength of AF Base Port Blair w.e.f. 30 Apr 95. He has over 1000 hours of flying experience on type.

At 2230 hours on 04 Jun 96, an SOS was received from INS Valsura. A rescue boat, a sailing boat with seven sailors was missing since 1830 hours and was believed to have been swept way by the receding tide into the Gulf of Kutch. More critically, one of the occupants who attempted to reach the shore was believed to be stuck in the marsh. The new rising tide would drown this officer and therefore a prompt reaction was critical to the success of the mission.

On being detailed, Squadron Leader Philip Jacob was airborne within an hour. In addition to the regular complement of aircrew, using his ingenuity; he carried two more technicians and improvised equipment, which may have been required to recover the officer from the marsh. The weather conditions were not favourable for SAR mission of this sort at night. The winds were in excess of 40 kmph and blowing into the just rising moon, which affected the minimum speed for search and visibility. Also due to the sea spray the search had to be done at 20-25 mtrs, for the landing lights to be effective.

After having reasonable ascertained the absence of officer in the marsh, search was shifted towards the water line and the sea. After a search of over an hour, the drifted boat was located with six survivors on board and a Motorola set was handed over to the survivors from a low hover. Contact could not be established even on this set with the boat. Now, it becomes imperative to winch up one of the survivors to ascertain the whereabouts and well being of the rest of the crew. Therefore one of the survivors was winched up into the helicopter, with whose help the rest of the survivors were later recovered.

In flying this highly demanding mission in unfamiliarly conditions over the sea at mid night, compounded by extremely strong winds and poor visibility, Squadron Leader Philip Jacob has exhibited a strong sense of commitment and responsibility above and beyond the call of duty. Further an exceptional display of skill and professionalism, resulted in the safe and successful conduct of the mission in turn fostering a tremendous spirit of inter service cooperation.

For the act of exceptional courage, the President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Squadron Leader Philip Jacob.

Wing Commander Tonda Sree Venkatesh (16796) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the Flying branch of the IAF on 04 Jun 1982. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College. He was awarded Commendation by the CAS in Dec, 1989 for flying operations in Operation Meghdoot. He also took part in Operation Pawan during 1989-90. He was the Flight Commander of a helicopter unit from 1996 to 1999. Presently, he is the Commanding Officer of a Helicopter Flight (HF). On taking over the HF in May 2000, Wg Cdr Venkatesh revised the Standard Operating Procedures for IAF helicopter flying over the sea at Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which has become operational. Considering the depth of his knowledge and experience on different roles of helicopter operations, Wg Cdr Venkatesh was nominated as a member of the Inter Services Joint Planning Group for the AMPHEX 2001. This led to smooth conduct of helicopter operations during the exercise. Under his command, the Flight achieved 100% serviceability for 131 days during 2001-02.

During the tenure as Commanding Officer, Wg Cdr Venkatesh was instrumental in commencing armament training for the Flight for the first time in Nov, 2000. During Dec, 2000, he commenced inter-island night cross-country flights for the first time in the history of the Helicopter Flight and cleared four aircrew on the role. Both these aspects enhanced the operational capability of the HF. In Jun, 2001, Wg Cdr Venkatesh was tasked to carry out a feasibility study to land a Mi-8 helicopter on the deck of a merchant vessel 'MV Swarajdeep'. After extensive study, he carried out the trial landing on board the deck of 'MV Swarajdeep' on 28 Apr 2002. This event has opened the options for tactical deployment of Mi-8 at sea as well as its transportation by ship.

For his distinguished service of high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Wing Commander Tonda Sree Venkatesh.