ALH fleet unlikely to fly for 3 more months

The military's Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) fleet, which was grounded nearly three months ago following a fatal crash in Gujarat, will stay out of action for at least three more months with investigators struggling to determine the root cause of the accident in which two Indian Coast Guard pilots and an aircrew diver were killed, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

- Rahul Singh

NEW DELHI:

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has designed and developed the ALH, has broadened the scope of the ongoing investigation by involving Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to perform fatigue testing of a critical part in the twin-engine helicopter's transmission system to get to the bottom of the matter, the officials said, asking not to be named.

The prolonged grounding of the workhorse fleet is a setback for the three services and the coast guard who together operate around 330 ALHs. Military helicopters such as Mi-17s, Chetaks and Cheetahs are overworked because of the ALH's grounding, HT has learnt.

A high-powered panel found that a swashplate fracture caused the coast guard ALH crash at Porbandar in Gujarat on January 5, but a question mark hangs over the reason for the breakdown of the critical component that compromised the ability of the pilots to control the helicopter's motion.