Squadron Leader Gommenvalli Narayanappa Ramachandra (10920) Flying (Pilot) captained one of the Mi-8 helicopters, which were rushed to Andhra Pradesh for flood relief operations. On the 13th August, 1983, in Ramagundam village, 17 villagers were trapped in a hut in the floods. The trapped victims were mostly women and children.

Minutes after receiving the message from the District Magistrate, Karimnagar, Squadron Leader Ramachandra with the team got airborne and reached the spot. On sighting the isolated hut in flood waters he immediately started winching operations. Seeing the fury of the floods and the rate at which water was rising he quickly assessed that by winching one person at a time he may not be in a position to save all the lives. He decided to abandon the winching operations and resort to landing the helicopter so all the victims would be rescued.

Since the only place for landing was occupied by the victims themselves he hovered the helicopter in such a way that the door of the helicopter came close to the hut. He then ordered the Flight Gunner to jump out on the roof of the hut along with the winch cable. The gunner hooked the winch cable to one of the strong members of the hut and helped women and children reach the helicopter by holding the winching cable. Thus all 17 victims were rescued.

Squadron Leader Gommenvalli Narayanappa Ramachandra thus exhibited a great sense of professionalism, courage and devotion to duty throughout the operations.