HAL defends prowess of its advanced light helicopter

Recently, the company's helicopters met with a series of accidents in Ecuador

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) today strongly defended the prowess of its Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) even as it faced series of mishaps in Ecuador.

HAL’s new chairman T Suvarna Raju also allayed fears over the robustness and the dependability of its helicopters.

“Currently, our team is studying the cause for accidents in Ecuador. The helicopters have been stopped from flying until we find the exact cause behind recent incidents. It is a negative campaign and it will not have any adverse impact on the export potential of ALH. Already Maldives, and Nepal are also flying,” the chairman said.

However, he said the company requires European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) certificate to sell these copters in Europe. “We are expecting to receive the certification in 2015,” he told reporters at the Aero India show, here.

The ALH has had some adverse news reports when Ecuador restricted the flying of any of the seven ALH that Ecuador had bought. The Ecuadorian Air Force had bought seven Dhruv helicopters from HAL in 2009 under a deal estimated to cost about $45 million.

Dhruv helicopters sold to Ecuador have suffered accidents in the recent months, and had prompted an order of "restricted" operations on the remaining ones. The development had led to concerns that it could affect the plans of Centre that could cause concern to the government which has been planning expansion of the export of military hardware.

HAL has had grand plans for the helicopter. The defence PSU has so far exported the helicopter to Nepal, Maldives and Ecuador. Despite the negative news reports HAL said: “It is a robust machine. It has till flown about 120,000 km.”

Dhruv helicopter FAE 605 allegedly caught fire in Ecuador's Amazon region on January 27 after taking off at a military base in Tena, according to local media. Two people were injured in the mishap.

It was the fourth Dhruv to suffer an accident since 2009. Incidentally, this mishap occurred at a time when an Indian team was already there to probe the incident that took place on January 13.

Two of the ALH had crashed earlier while two suffered accidents recently, in a span of about a fortnight. "Three aircraft have had their operations restricted because they are undergoing a complete check," the Ecuadorian Security Minister was quoted as saying by a local newspaper after an accident on January 27.