ALHs to fly only in emergency till faulty parts changed

New Delhi, May 31

The Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) will fly only in case of emergency and only after requisite mandated checks. Also a special check has been put in place to review control rod in the gear box after every 100 hours of flying, instead of the existing checkup done every 300 hours of flying. This is one of the key checks imposed before the copters will fly.

A multi-agency certification body has suggested the need for changing the control rod on the copter. The process to change this is on. The armed forces had flagged metallurgical issues with “control rod” on board the copter.

Bengaluru-based Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), which has representatives from ALH manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, National Aerospace Laboratories and the Aeronautical Development Agency, had suggested the changes.

CEMILAC found the control rod in the gearbox which transfer power from engines to overhead rotor was showing higher fatigue or stress.

Failure of control in the gearbox resulted in the copter not responding correctly to the pilot’s inputs and was impossible to control it. There have been 10 accidents involving the ALHs in the past three years.

The fleet of 284 copters speared across armed services — the Army, IAF, Navy and the Coast Guard — is already undergoing multiple safety checks.

10 mishaps in 3 years

• There are 284 ALHs with the Army, Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard
• There have been at least 10 accidents involving ALHs in the past three years
• The copters will be subjected to multiple safety checks