Thoise Air Force Station

Etymology THOISE is a real name and not an acronym for Transit Halt Of Indian Soldiers Enroute (to Siachen). The information about Thoise being an acronym is incorrect. Thoise air strip was constructed in 1960 and the first landing took place on September 26, 1960 - Siachen operations started a quarter century later on April 13, 1984 - so there is no link to troops going to Siachen in its name. It is most probably the name of a village there. Thoise is about an hour and 20 minutes flight from Delhi. Air India has limited flight operations from "Thoise" to Delhi (Flight AI 3832). Jet Airways operated flights to THOISE until the decision was made to curtail operations due to financial non-viability towards the end of January 2019. With less than 12 qualified commercial pilots the world over, this is an extremely tricky airfield to operate into. Special background clearance and multiple stringent skill tests must be passed by the pilots in order to be able to operate to Thoise. History On 30 April 2019, Group Captain Sandeep Singh Chhabra of the Indian Air Force achieved the rare distinction of having completed 1,000 incident-free landings of the Russian-origin heavy lift IL-76 aircraft at Leh and Thoise. == Military and Air Force station ==

Due to the extreme conditions and lack of connectivity with the outside world, IAF aircraft have been instrumental in the resupply of this remote region. IAF's IL-76 aircraft are all operated by No. 44 Squadron, which is based at the Chandigarh Air Force Station. Capable of airlifting up to 45 tonnes of payload, these aircraft have played an instrumental role in ferrying men and equipment, including tanks, artillery guns and construction equipment to the northern sector. They have also airlifted large quantities of relief material during disaster management in cases of natural calamities, and have undertaken overseas missions. ==See also==