ALH Dhruv To Fly After Rectification Of Identified Faults

NEW DELHI: Faults in the indigenous Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) have been pinned down and are being corrected on a priority basis in light of issues related to flight safety, senior officials in the know said on Wednesday.

The safety record of the ALH came under the scanner after a series of accidents that occurred earlier this year.

Some issues regarding the design and metallurgy emerged when investigations were conducted into the recent accidents that involved the India-made helicopter, said one of the officials, who preferred to remain anonymous.

More than 330 ALHs are operated by the army, air force, navy, and coast guard. The chopper was grounded, before being cleared for flying and then again grounded in the March-May period after safety issues became evident in the backdrop of three accidents that happened during this time.

The ALH helicopters have been designed and developed by public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and they are being cleared to fly in batches after comprehensive checks, in the event of urgent missions, another official revealed.

The ALH choppers were involved in 12 accidents in the past five years, which included the crash-landing of an army helicopter in Kishtwar of Jammu & Kashmir on May 4. One soldier was killed and two pilots were injured in that mishap.

Prior to that, on March 26, an ALH operated by the coast guard had to make a forced landing in Kochi, while and a navy ALH made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on March 8.

According to a government letter dated May 22, the ALH was cleared for urgent flights after following the prescribed conduct of “independent maintenance flight safety audit” done on critical items and systems, after complying with “special technical instructions and alert notices” that are safety-related and issued by technical authorities.

It was earlier reported that a review of a “safety-critical system” on the ALH may be in the offing, citing a top government regulatory body entrusted with providing the airworthiness certification of military aircraft. The Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) based in Bengaluru, informed about this to the three services and the coast guard on April 23. The design review of the booster control rods was ordered to improve the airworthiness of the ALHs.

CEMILAC concluded that the design review of the booster control rods is necessitated following the recommendation of an expert committee that explored the possible failures leading to the mishap of the navy ALH on March 8. The helicopter’s motion is controlled by the pilots with the help of these rods, and any failure could seriously affect input of power to the rotor blades, leading to accidents.

The committee which was constituted by the chief executive (airworthiness) of CEMILAC pinpointed a technical failure to be the most possible cause of the March 8 incident. The technical glitch is a mistake in the assembly of serrated washers in the booster control rods. Short and long-term measures were recommended to enhance the ALH’s safety.

CEMILAC prescribed these measures so that operations of the ALH, Rudra (the armed version of ALH) and the light combat helicopter (LCH) can be resumed.

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