 "Dornier")
A small aircraft harbours big ambitions of making the government’s UDAN dream soar. The twin-engine, 17-seater, made-in-India Dornier 228, which has for years been a trusted ride of soldiers, bringing them home from remote locations where airstrips are small or semi-prepared, has been on commercial jaunts in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam for Alliance Air since April.
It’s a first for a made-in-India aircraft to fly commercial. So far, the Dornier 228 (Do-228) was being manufactured under licence from Swiss aerospace engineering and defence company RUAG, with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) supplying the fuselage, wings and tail unit from its facility in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The aircraft would then be assembled at RUAG’s facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
“A major fillip to
