Military Flight Safety

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Kannan
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Post by Kannan »

IssacB wrote:I do not know if this qualifies as simulated crash situation training, but US pilots are taught to recover from unusual attitudes all tihe time as part of instrument rating training and recurrent training. Inability to correct qucikly will result in spiral dive etc. which wiil certainly result in a bad mess.

Disorientation is sudden in its inception. Perhaps other pilots here can speak to it at depth, but from personal experience, I just had a very narrow escape recently and I can attest that is comes on very quickly. Luckily, my training kicked in time and I was able to recover fairly close to ground as I was on an ILS approach with very low ceilings.
Actually, US pilots have to have IFR hood training even for the standard VFR license. You need 3 hours "under the hood"/wearing goggles training. The instructor usually makes you put your head to your knees, close eyes, and then shakes the plane around, and you look up with the hood and recover with instruments. I felt a little airsick but nothing too bad.

It is very easy to misjudge whats going on, but thankfully I've been conservative enough to never have had a close call. I think my biggest paranoia is overbanking :)
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Post by shiv »

http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/15/stories ... 660700.htm
Bird hit brought down MiG-21: report

Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: An initial inquiry report has confirmed that a bird hit was responsible for last month's MiG-21 crash, which killed the pilot, Squadron Leader K.R. Murthy, and injured the co-pilot, Flight Test Engineer Sqn. Ldr. K.D. Bhat. The aircraft crashed at the HAL Airport here.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Indian Air Force (IAF) Training Command's Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Air Marshal S. Bhojwani, said Sqn. Ldr. Murthy had ejected out of the aircraft within a second after the bird-hit, when the aircraft had gained an altitude of about 90 m. But strong winds forced his parachute onto the flames, burning the ropes at a height of 20 m. "In the last 15 m or 20 m, the pilot fell without parachute," Air Marshal Bhojwani explained. The co-pilot suffered burns. He said the increasing human habitation around the HAL Airport had worsened the bird menace.

Birds were attracted to foodstuff and to trees planted by residents.

He said responding to a request from the IAF Training Command, HAL had agreed to retrain its staff to combat the bird menace, appoint sharp shooters and install light reflectors to scare away birds. It would be done in three months. The open drain on the Murugeshpalya side of the airport would be cleaned and covered with mesh to keep birds away, he said.

IAF had temporarily flown in a 15-member Bird Hazard Combat Team from Bareilly, equipped with binoculars and walkie-talkies to communicate with Air Traffic Control (ATC).
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Post by Jagan »

Tragic findings. Almost exactly 40 Years ago, 15 Sept 1965 infact. Flt Lt TK Chaudury took off in a Hawker Hunter from Halwara and suffered a bird hit on take off. He ejected sucessfully, but his chute caught fire as it drifted into the flames of the wrecked aircraft. he died of burns soon after.

While on the topic of Flight Safety, this article might be of some interest.
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Histo ... lly01.html
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Post by Jagan »

Image
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Post by shiv »

Jagan wrote:Image
No tail rotor is visible in the picture. The news item spoke of a tail rotor problem. Incidentally yestreday's news (on BR main page) also featured an item that spoke of a Nepalese ALH having been returned to Nepal after repairs following an accident. That accident was related to the tail rotor.
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=4530

Any new aircraft, when put into service, shows up little bugs here and there. I wonder if there is a tail rotor bug?
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Post by Arun_S »

Though every crash is unfortunate and un-intended, but each crash also is motherload source of data that validates previous design features and uncovers hidden deficiencies.

Look at this crash photo few observation that come to my mind are as follows:

1. Clearly the effect of composite construction of rotors can be seen. Although composite is as strong as steel its weight and momemt of interia is much smaller, as well as the fracture pattern is much better then conventional metal construction. Look at the fracture pattern, it saved the tail (and far end of cabin) being sliced and very hard cabin yaw when it hit the ground.

2. The tail plane on the right is gone. Perhaps linked to the tail rotor failure. The tail rotor is located on the right ride of the tail. The tail plane is made of thin composite material and it has no metal at all.

3. The tail rotor and drive assembly had a catatstophic failure, it is completly ripped off. Clearly prime focus area for failure analysis.

4. Dhruv has crash proof seats but looks like the crash was not bad to test the crash proof seats to its limits. Only the left undercarriage is sunken into the soft mud.

5. The crash landing was not flat but hit the ground in a tilted (banked) attitude. Fortunately that meant the main rotos hit the ground to dessipate its energy.

6. From initial newspaper reports the pilot had problem with tail torque while flying at considerable altitude. That meant a very difficult airmenship challange to the pilot. Lots of pilot skill and luck that major crash was averted.

Look forward to crash analysis report in 2 months time. Anyone in Hawaii Sena willing to share its summary?
Last edited by Arun_S on 28 Nov 2005 11:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by shiv »

Arun_S wrote: 6. From initial newspaper reports the pilot had problem with tail torque while flying at considerable altitude. That meant a very difficult airmenship challange to the pilot. Lots of pilot skill and luck that major crash was averted.
Yes - IIRC he was at 5000 feet. That means he autorotated down from that altitude and still there was only one injury - a fracture I think. Not bad at all if the info is correct.
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Post by Arun_S »

Yes, but why autorotate? the news report did not say he had engine power failure problem. OTOH news report mention failure of tail rotor. That means power available but airframe starts to rotate (along verticle axis) uncontollby. Even if engine power is cut off that dizzing rotation continues. That is an emergency procedure that I do not think they get to practice ever at all (for fixed wing aircraft it is like practicing an emergency involving loss of vertical tail plane).

BTW autorotate on engine failure is very safe & very controlled. The tail rotor i sconnected to main rotos thus yaw control is good.

Thus losing engine power at 5000 ft is perfect altitude to autorotate from engine failure. I saw an autorotate demo 2 years ago by a civilian (the only civilian) chopper aerobatic team, that simulated engine failure at 3000 ft altitude. It is an amazingly safe crash landing compared to fixed wing aircraft.
Last edited by Arun_S on 28 Nov 2005 11:15, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by shiv »

Arun_S wrote: Even if engine power is cut off that dizzing rotation continues.
But Arun, surely keeping the engine powering the main rotor in the absence of a tail rotor will make the helicopter spin violently. The engine has to be disconnected from the main rotor if the tail rotor goes. That means autorotation, but at least drag and momentum will slow down the spinning fuselage.
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Post by Arun_S »

The situation is similar to flying those hand launched toy helicoptor that do not have any tail rotor. Have you flown or seen those?

Drag is not enough to stop that ugly fuselage rotation.

Let me consult my helicoptor expert.
Last edited by Arun_S on 28 Nov 2005 12:24, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Jagan »

From what i heard from a retd offr, the Dhruv had been tested for landing under Tail-rotor failure conditions. And it apparently can do so. Whats the lawgic/fisics/engeneering etc , I am not so sure.
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Post by Arun_S »

Based on briefing from my chopper expert here is some insight.

Handling emergency of inflight Tail rotor failure on Dhruv (ALH) would require cutting off engine power and enter auto-rotation regiem (i.e. reduce the collective ). Autorotation will result in airframe to rotate along its verticle axis due to bearing friction. The trick to stop that fuselage rotation is thus to decend at significant forward velocity so that tail fin become effective and provide counter torque to bearing friction induced torque while main rotor is in auto-rotation. Thus the helicoptor tail will be in yaw attitude while the flight trajectory is forward and gliding.

Now landing does become tricky and require skill, because it need to be cushioned (in verticle axis) by using energy from main rotor's moment of intertia and also the forward speed need be brought to zero (by pitching up the aircraft nose. BTW that also provides additional lift to cushion from glide decent rate), but slowing forward speed will also result in losing the counter torque from tail plane, which will thus have a tendency to spin the airframe in the same direction as main rotor. That is where fuselage without tail rotor will start to rotate and pilots airmenship is tested to the hilt.

Expet says that this Dhruv (ALH) crash will show very positively to prospective customers in Dhruv capability to be safe in difficult crash situation.

BTW if helicoptor airframe is OK but engine power is lost in flight (outside the "dead-man envelop") the tail rotor stays engaged with main rotor during the flight and flight is very controlled all the way to a smooth unpowered landing under autorotation flight regiem.
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Post by Arun_S »

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Air India B747 makes safe emergency landing at LAX

Post by Rich »

Undercarriage problem with Air India Boeing 747 en route from LA to Frankfurt, makes emergency landing, everyone safe.

LA Times link
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Post by Jagan »

“33”
pib.nic.in
mod.nic.in

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (DEFENCE WING)
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

AIRCRAFT CRASH

New Delhi: 27 December 2005

One Kiran MkI aircraft of IAF crashed near Bangalore airfield on 27 Dec 05
at about 1130 hrs. The aircraft was on a routine training flying mission.
The pilots Wg Cdr R Bapat and Wg Cdr N Deepak ejected safely. The was no
reported damage to civil property and no civilian was injured or killed as
a result of air crash. An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the
reasons for the accident.
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Post by Aditya G »

Wg Cdr R Bapat and Wg Cdr N Deepak ejected
Why were two Wg Cdrs on the same aircraft in a 'routine training flying mission'
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Post by Manne »

Another report says both were Sqn Ldrs :roll:
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Post by Jagan »

Aditya G wrote:
Wg Cdr R Bapat and Wg Cdr N Deepak ejected
Why were two Wg Cdrs on the same aircraft in a 'routine training flying mission'
No idea. but its from ASTE, its probably linked to the Test Pilot School.
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Post by Aditya G »

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=4942
The force's (IAF) safety record was enhanced, from 1.722 per 10,000 flying hours to 0.83 last year and 0.5 this year -- the lowest in three decades.
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Post by Vasu »

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Post by Aditya G »

From above report;
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi’s vision for a zero crash rate may be only an ideal, given the inherent risks of military aviation, but a more realistic statistic being aimed at, according to informed sources in the force, is about five per year with no pilot fatalities.
and ..
In 2005 the IAF also managed to eliminate crashes of the MiG-32BN, widely thought to be one of the riskiest jets to fly.
Many airforces around the world bring down their accidents by simply not flying .. or flying the fighter like an airliner. I hope IAF never does that.
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Post by saumitra_j »

In 2005 the IAF also managed to eliminate crashes of the MiG-32BN, widely thought to be one of the riskiest jets to fly.
DDM strikes again - can't somebody do some basic proof reading before such articles get shown to the world? :shock:
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Post by shiv »

Well done IAF

Good work.
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Post by Jagan »

Aditya G wrote:From above report;

In 2005 the IAF also managed to eliminate crashes of the MiG-32BN, widely thought to be one of the riskiest jets to fly.
Many airforces around the world bring down their accidents by simply not flying .. or flying the fighter like an airliner. I hope IAF never does that.
One reason that 23BN accidents are down is that there is only one Sqn flying them now. No.221. the other units have been disbanded.

But all said and done, cutting down MiG21 accidents is no mean feat.
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Post by JCage »

Great work IAF!!!

Ved, can you comment on how things were improved/ changed vis a vis earlier?
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Post by Jagan »

Cross posted from Warbirds

Air Force
03-Jan-05 MiG-21Bis
04-Mar-05 Deepak HPT-32
09-Mar-05 MiG-21Bis
11-May-05 Jaguar IS
21-Jun-05 Mil Mi-17
10-Oct-05 Jaguar IS
27-Oct-05 MiG-21UM
13-Dec-05 MiG-21FL
19-Dec-05 Canberra PR 57
27-Dec-05 HAL Kiran


NAVY
06-May-05 Chetak NAVY
19-Aug-05 Kamov 28 NAVY
05-Dec-05 Sea Harrier

-We also had the very serious Dhruv Accident, but it is said that the helicopter is recoverable.
-The IAF had had ten accidents and the Navy three accidents.
-Atleast one accident of the IAF can be attributed to Bird Hit
-Four MiG-21s lost in this year.
-Two of the accidents are of ASTE in Bangalore.
- One accident is from AFA Dundigal
- One accident from TACDE
-Remaining six are operational units.
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Post by Vivek K »

Weren't there some Mirage crashes last year? I remember the M2K belly landing in Mauritius. was that in 2004?
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Post by Jagan »

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=4960

Days before death, pilot wrote about ‘blanking out’

Image

In an article, he described the phenomenon which, Navy suspects, may have caused the crash
SHIV AROOR
Posted online: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 at 0133 hours IST


NEW DELHI, JANUARY 3: Days before Navy pilot Lt Commander Harpawan Pannu gunned his Sea Harrier fighter for what would be his last take-off, he had warned of the dangers of disorientation while flying a fighter in a Naval flight safety journal.

Ironically, it is precisely this condition which, the Navy suspects, caused the crash that killed the 30-year-old pilot.



Apart from the almost prophetic nature of Pannu’s article in the November’s issue of Meatball —the Navy’s in-house flight safety journal—the Naval Headquarters is still befuddled by the circumstances surrounding the accident at Goa’s Dabolim airfield on December 5.

That morning, Pannu, a pilot with the INAS 552 squadron, had been on a full thrust take-off roll in his Sea Harrier. But the alarmed Air Traffic Controllers watched as the jet zoomed far beyond the point at which it was to lift off.

Seconds before the aircraft rammed a concrete wall at the far end of the tarmac, Pannu contacted the controllers to say ‘‘barrier approaching’’.

The next moment, they saw the fireball.

Supporting the Navy’s suspicions that Pannu may have ‘‘frozen at the controls’’ or ‘‘blanked out’’ is the fact that he had not reported any mechanical failure, which he would have done if there was a component malfunction.

Pannu had gone through the mandatory pre-flight medical tests and was cleared for the mission.

Sources told The Indian Express that the court of inquiry ordered to investigate the crash has had little success in isolating a cause, because there was hardly any material evidence left to work with. The aircraft had been almost completely destroyed.

In the journal, in article titled ‘‘It Happened To Me’’, Pannu had described a dangerous situation he encountered years ago while being flight-trained on a MiG-21 T-69 trainer aircraft at the Tezpur MiG training unit. Presenting a detailed account of what could easily have ended in an engine flameout and crash of the trainer, Pannu wrote, ‘‘...one has to be very much alive to the present situation and this can only be done by learning and practising the checks and procedures again and again’’.

The footnote to his article reads: ‘‘A person who learns from his mistakes is smart. A person who learns from other people’s mistakes is smarter.’’ Meanwhile, remembering him as one of its bright, highly capable and upcoming officers, the Navy has decided to honour Pannu’s memory in a special way.

Footage of the officer at the Goa Naval air base will be a prominent part of a short film being made by the Navy for its upcoming fleet review.
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Post by shiv »

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=4961
A Tribune Exclusive
Grievous fault grounds Dhruv choppers
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4
The Indian armed forces have grounded the entire fleet of the much-hyped indigenously developed advanced light helicopter ‘Dhruv’ because of some technical faults in the flying machine, touted as India’s window to the international arms market.

Senior Defence Ministry officials said that the grounding of the multi-purpose helicopter, manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, by all the three arms of the forces came about 15 days ago following the crash of a helicopter in Hyderabad.

The chopper meant for the Jharkhand government came down near Hyderabad after taking off from Bangalore. A total of over 45 helicopters with the three arms of the Indian military have been put on ground till the technical faults are rectified.

A joint investigating team consisting of officials from the manufacturing company and the three armed forces has been constituted for this purpose.

While the Army Aviation has about 30 Dhruv helicopters in its inventory, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Navy together have about 16. The helicopter is also in regular service of various state governments. Some have also been supplied to Nepal.

Sources in the IAF said their officials have found a major defect in the tail rotor of the helicopter, which also led to the crash in Hyderabad. The tail rotor needs to be strengthened, they said.

The chopper has a bearingless composite tails rotor, which had been designed in a bid to make the craft lighter. Officials said it was not clear by when the choppers would take to air again.

The grounding would come as a major blow to the Hindustan Aeronautics and the DRDO as they were making efforts to market it around the world as the lightest chopper available.

India had also been showcasing the Dhruv in various air shows around the world. Recently it attracted the attention of Israel, which is looking at jointly marketing it. India had also demonstrated the prowess of the chopper to the government of Chile, which showed interest in buying some helicopters.

The Dhruv has remained the Indian trump card, especially at the air show at Bangalore where the IAF had put up a breathtaking performance with the choppers.

The helicopter is designed to meet the requirement of both military and civil operations. The civil variant of the Dhruv carries forward the ruggedness of the military variant. It can carry six passengers in the executive version and 12 in the passenger version.

The HAL has a letter of intent for 300 helicopters from the Indian government and its agencies and has been looking at delivering 24 annually. Some 110 are planned for the Indian Army, 150 for the Air Force, and 40 for the Navy and the Coast Guard together.

The prototype of the Army version was first flown in 1994 and the Army, Navy and the Air Force received the first batch in mid-2002. The military had expressed a need for over a hundred Dhruv helicopters. Half of the Army’s 120 order will be weapons systems integrated, with the remaining serving in its utility and transport wings.
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Post by shiv »

cross post
dinesha wrote:Dhruv update
url
Information available with NDTV show that a faulty component made by a Swiss company caused the crash and repairs will be carried out during the next two months.
....

It has been projected as the flagship of the Indian aerospace industry - a helicopter which some say is the best in its class in the world.

.....
Investigations reveal the chopper's rotors came off because of a basic weakness in the composite fibre material. It was bought from a Swiss firm in the early nineties.

......
Any blade with the Swiss composite fibre material is to be replaced with material from other sources.

The repairs have disrupted plans of the Indian Air Force to convert four squadrons to the ALH from February.
The army operates one squadron of ALH and plans to raise another.

The rear rotor of the ALH currently being tested by Israel and the choppers gifted to Nepal are also being withdrawn
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Post by arun »

0.5 crashes per 10,000 hours combined with 10 crashes gives a total of 200,000 flying hours for 2005.

Going by data gathered by Rupak, that is a massive reduction in annual flying hours.

Back in 1997/98 it was 306,190 hours. That is a long way from 200,000 hours.
cbelwal

Post by cbelwal »

Crazy Things Happen !

Pilot skids, into cricket match on Solapur runway

url

A near disaster was averted today when a Deccan Airways plane making an emergency landing at the Solapur airport ran into hundreds of people on the runway, some apparently in the middle of a cricket match. The pilot managed to avert a mishap, either to the people on the ground or to the occupants of the nine-seater aircraft.
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Post by JaiS »

Dhruvs to be airborne next week

BANGALORE: The Dhruv advanced light helicopters of the armed forces, which were grounded after the crash of a newly built chopper in November last, will take off next week.
The move to allow 46 Dhruv's airborne comes after the manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) conducted stringent stress checks on the tail rotor blades of the choppers in service.

A tail rotor defect caused the indigenous chopper with a military registration headed to Jharkhand to crash in Karimnagar of Andhra Pradesh, which has been identified to a flaw in the composite imported from Switzerland to produce the tail rotor blades.

The chopper, intended for the Jharkhand police and VIP duties, was the first to be flown in the batch of 20 helicopters with the faulty blades, while others are still in the production line.

“All the Dhruv helicopters will be cleared to fly in the next few days. It is not a major problem and things have been rectified,” HAL Chairman Ashok K Baweja told DNA on Friday.

Dhruv has flown a total of 12,000 hours since the test phase in the early 1990's.

“The faulty blades are withdrawn. We conducted tests on the blades of Dhruv's in service and did not find any flaws,” HAL Rotary Wing chief test pilot Wg Cdr C D Upadhyay said.

Dhruv flights to resume shortly: HAL

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will shortly complete a thorough investigation and examination of Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters, grounded following the crash land of an aircraft in Hyderabad recently.

HAL said in a release here that two Dhruv helicopters were flying at HAL and flying by customers would recommence very soon. Referring to the crash land of Dhruv, HAL said that when the tail rotor of a Dhruv developed some technical snag near Hyderabad, the pilot executed a safe landing without injury to any passenger. ''The incident undoubtedly proved the safety features of ALH, including crash worthiness and ease of handling emergency procedures. It was also proved beyond doubt that the design characteristics of ALH were unique as the crew and passengers descended from 5,000 ft and came out of the helicopter without a scratch. There was no fuel leak, fire or any other untoward occurrence,'' the release said.

The tail rotor blades of the helicopter involved in the mishap belong to a particular batch of blades which were not in service with customers as yet.

The release said it was a known fact in the aeronautical world that tail rotors of several new entrants in the global helicopter market have given initial teething troubles. Several new helicopters from reputed manufacturers have also faced this problem and new helicopter programmes often get stretched due to these. However, as it did not allow even a minor snag to go unnoticed or unattended, HAL had advised all operators in military and civil to wait for it to examine the issue critically before recommencing flying.

The stoppage of flying advised by HAL was only a precautionary measure. Issue of alert notices, preliminary warnings/checks was a positive step towards safety in the sky, it said.
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Post by shiv »

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=5100
Lapses in production led to Dhruv's grounding
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 15
Non-adherence to the laiddown manufacturing process and the use of material whose life had expired resulted in the crashlanding of the Dhruv helicopter, which led to the grounding of the entire helicopter fleet earlier this month.

The crash landing revealed serious fault in the machine's tail rotor. The tail rotors are now being replaced.

"The fault was a combination of non-compliance of the stipulated manufacturing process as well as use of life-expired consumables that are not easily available," Mr K.P. Puri, Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), told The Tribune here today.

The Dhruv, also known as the advance light helicopter, has been designed and developed by HAL and 46 helicopters have been delivered to the armed forces and other government agencies so far.

Mr Puri said these factors led to "de-bonding" of the raisin-based :eek: components in the composite tail rotor. This, he added, produced extra vibrations, leading to imbalance of the tail rotor, which ultimately broke.

The material used in the construction of the tail rotor was procured from a Swiss firm, which no longer produces the stuff. Now similar material is being sourced from an Australian firm, which incidentally, belongs to an Indian entrepreneur.

The HAL chief said 80 per cent of the rotor-blades were being withdrawn. The replacement of these blades with newly produced ones was expected to be complete within two months.

Stressing that there was no design fault with the rotors, he added that the manufacturing process should have been complied to strictly as the time-scheduled mentioned to carry out different processes was very critical.

Speaking about HAL-DRDO's other major project, the development of the Tejas light combat aircraft, Mr Puri said that development of the Kaveri engine was behind schedule, following which a foreign collaborator was being brought in to overcome design deficiencies. Four engine manufacturers, Rolls Royce, Snecma, Pratt and Whitney and NPO Saturn (Russia) are in the fray.

Two more prototypes of the Tejas will be produced this year, taking the number to five. Mr Puri said 7,000 to 8,000 flying points on the Tejas were still to be checked. On a single sortie only 8-10 points can be checked. The prototypes have undertaken about 700 sorties so far.

Mr Puri said a joint Indo-Russian project to develop a multi-role transport aircraft is firmly on the rails. It will be in the 20-tonne payload category and be capable of carrying about 100 passengers. The aircraft will be produced on a 50-50 basis, with the Russian requirement being pegged at 100 aircraft and that of the IAF being projected at 45 aircraft.
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Post by Harry »

Funny thing is that HAL has just started supplying the first of ~5000 tail rotors to Bell. I'll bet that the selection of the Swiss firm was due to external factors, just like the selection of the Lords anti-vibration system.
shiv
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Post by shiv »

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/news ... ewsid=5125
MiG-21 crashes in Jamnagar

Gandhinagar (Gujarat): A MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in the Jamnagar Firing Range today. However, the pilot managed to eject himself from the cockpit well in time.

An IAF spokesperson said there was no loss of life or damage to property because of the crash, which took place around 11.15 a.m.

The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained. A court of inquiry is being constituted to conduct further investigations.

The India Air Force combat fleet consist of about 55 percent of the Soviet-made MiG-21 aircraft.

Recently, the Director General (Inspection and safety), IAF Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia had told newspersons that the safety record of MiG-21 has improved. He had said that the accident rate had come down from 2.81 (per 10,000 hours of flying) a decade ago to 0.6 in 2005.
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Post by JaiS »

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... 375717.cms

"In Tuesday's crash, the pilot, Squadron Leader J P S Bains, who managed to eject safely, reported an unexpected engine surge while he was pulling out after the practice sortie. The engine could be faulty or it could be due to snags in auxiliary systems like fuel pipelines and pumps," an officer said.

While the court of inquiry ordered into the latest crash will pinpoint the exact reason, IAF officers say the two Bisons which crashed soon after induction — in September 2002 and April 2003 at Ambala — had also reported engine problems due to faulty fuel pipelines and pumps.

In fact, IAF had temporarily grounded the entire fleet of MiG-21 jets with the Russian 'R-25' engines, which also power the Bisons.
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Post by Jagan »

Updated list for 2005

Code: Select all

AIRFORCE
04-Jan-05	MiG-21Bis	Sqn Ldr	Kaila	
04-Mar-05	Deepak HPT-32	Flt Cdt	Sparsh Rana*	AFA
08-Mar-05	MiG-21Bis	Fg Offr	Tushar Chavan*	
11-May-05	Jaguar IS	Flt Lt	Amit Singh*	16
07-Oct-05	Jaguar IS	Sqn Ldr	Vishal Gupta	
26-Oct-05	MiG-21UM	Sqn Ldr	K R Murthy*	ASTE
13-Dec-05	MiG-21	Sqn Ldr	Bansal	
19-Dec-05	Canberra PR57	Sqn Ldr	Sanjeev Bedi*	106
27-Dec-05	Kiran HJT-16	Wg Cdr	Rahul Bapat	ASTE
				
01-Feb-05	Chetak			
18-Feb-05	Cheetah SA-315			
22-May-05	Mil Mi-8			
21-Jun-05	Mil Mi-17	Gp Capt	Shankar	
19-Oct-05	Cheetah SA-315			

Airforce Combat Ac: 7 
Trainers : 2
Choppers: 5

NAVY
21-Feb-05	Chetak			NAVY
06-May-05	Chetak	Lt Cdr	D Poddar*	NAVY
17-May-05	Sea Harrier			300
19-Aug-05	Kamov 28	Lt Cdr	O Sherawat*	
07-Sep-05	Chetak			NAVY
05-Dec-05	Sea Harrier	Lt Cdr	H S Pannu*	551

HAL
29-Nov-05	HAL Dhruv	Wg Cdr	Krishna	HAL
SaiK
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Post by SaiK »

Non-adherence to the laiddown manufacturing process and the use of material whose life had expired

Stressing that there was no design fault with the rotors, he added that the manufacturing process should have been complied to strictly as the time-scheduled mentioned to carry out different processes was very critical.

The material used in the construction of the tail rotor was procured from a Swiss firm, which no longer produces the stuff. Now similar material is being sourced from an Australian firm, which incidentally, belongs to an Indian entrepreneur.

=========

Qs.

1. What is this material that can't be locally produced by midhani?

2. Not adhering manufacturing process guidelines is a serious offence. In addition to the corrections, what process is in place to discipline the men behind these processes?

3. Is he also saying, by deviating such process guidelines, it affected the schedule timelines? why is he talking about schedule. Was the timeline set unrealistic, leading to wrong practices and deviations?
arun
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Post by arun »

Jagan wrote:Updated list for 2005

Code: Select all

AIRFORCE
..........
21-Jun-05	Mil Mi-17	Gp Capt	Shankar	
..........
Jagan,

Going by the Defence Minister’s answers in the Lok Sabha, there was no Mil 17 crash on June 21, 2005. In fact no crash for the armed forces has been reported during the month of June 2005. Perhaps the damage was repairable? :

Question No : 1853

Question No : 247
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