HAL-built trainer aircraft HTT-40 clears crucial flight test successfully

Clearing the HTT-40's six-turn spin tests removes a monkey from our backs, said design chief Arup Chatterjee

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has underlined its growing capability to design and develop fixed-wing aircraft by steering its home grown Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) basic trainer to the brink of final flight clearance.

In flight-testing on Saturday in Bengaluru, HAL’s test pilots threw the HTT-40 into multiple spins and, each time, the trainer returned to level flight smoothly. In so doing, the HTT-40 cleared the so-called “six-turn spin test”, regarded as the ultimate and most difficult test for a trainer aircraft.

The HTT-40 has already met and, in many aspects of flight performance, surpassed the so-called “Air Staff Qualitative Requirements” (ASQRs), which lists