Days after ALH crash, entire fleet grounded for thorough check

Following Sunday’s crash of a Coast Guard Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), the entire fleet of 330 copters across the armed forces has been grounded for a comprehensive check – the second such check in the past 15 months.

A team of the copter maker, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is assessing the cause of Sunday’s crash and is expected to give its report by Wednesday. “The report will trigger the next action on what all would need to be checked on the ALH fleet,” a source said.

Three Coast Guard personnel had died in the crash on Sunday at Porbandar, Gujarat.

In October 2023, the Ministry of Defence had grounded the entire fleet and ordered a one-time check. This check was ordered after five Army men had died in a crash near Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh.

The check was for mechanical and technical “stress points” on the entire fleet and this included engines, rotor-blades and the ‘collective’ control rods (a component that controls power from engine to both the rotors, one on top of the copter and the other at the tail).

In mid-2024, the HAL initiated an upgrade to improve airworthiness. This led to replacement of the ‘collective’ control rods.

Sunday’s crash was the second fatal crash for the Coast Guard’s ALH fleet in four months. Three of the four personnel on board a helicopter had died in a crash in September last year. The copter crashed into the Arabian Sea some 45 km off Porbandar while carrying out a medical evacuation mission from on board Indian flagged merchant vessel MV Hari Leela.