Days after crash, Indian Army grounds ALH fleet

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, May 6

After two pilots were injured and a soldier killed in a crash in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar on May 4, the Army has grounded its fleet of 170 advanced light helicopters (ALH). It has also ordered a comprehensive safety check.

Sources said the pilots had reported a “loss of power” to the air traffic control.

This is the third time that checks have been ordered since October. An Army aviation copter had crashed near Migging in Arunachal Pradesh in October, killing all five on board.

In March, the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy grounded their respective ALH fleets and carried out checks. This was after a Navy ALH had to ditch — land the copter on water — due to “loss of power”.

There are 284 ALH variants, flying largely with the Army, IAF, Navy and the Coast Guard.

The IAF is clearing its ALHs — over 70 of them — for flying in batches after the mandatory checks were ordered in March, an IAF official said today. Specialist teams of state-run aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has designed and produced the helicopters, are involved in the ongoing safety checks, an official said. Already, the forces have flagged metallurgical issues with a critical component called the “control rod” on board the copter for which a team of the three armed forces has been consulting the HAL.

The “control rod” is in the gearbox and is a key component in transferring power from the two engines of the copter to its overhead rotors. It needs to be replaced in some of the copters. The rod is made of aluminum and the armed forces have suggested that it should be made of a stronger material like steel. Special checks have been put in place for the rod every 100 hours of flying instead of the present examination done every 300 hours of flying. The ALH is a twin-engine, multi-mission helicopter in the 5.5-tonne class. The ALH fleet has the following variants – ALH mark II, ALH mark III, ALH Mark IV, ALH-WSI. Even the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is derived from the same platform and powered by the same engines.