Dhruv crash - should it be a cause of concern?

The HAL built advanced light helicopter Dhruv, bought by the Ecuadorian Air Force (EAF) early this year crashed when it was flying in formation with two other choppers over an air force base when it suddenly veered off course and slammed to the ground.

According to Ecuadorian Air Force General Leonardo Barreiro, the two crew members bailed out with minor injuries, though the chopper was destroyed in the mishap.

The crew was trained in India by HAL test pilots.

The EAF, which bought six Dhruv copters from HAL for $45 million, grounded the entire fleet pending investigation into the crash.

HAL has based a team of engineers in Quito to provide maintenance support to the Dhruv fleet of EAF.

“Dhruv has been designed and manufactured with advanced technologies. The helicopter has safety features such as twin engines, dual flight control, redundancy in critical systems, self sealing fuel tanks, modern fire protection devices and a structure designed to ensure crashworthiness,” the statement noted.

Ecuadorian pilots, who had undergone flying training on Dhruv in India and Ecuador, were satisfied with the handling qualities, advanced avionics and safety features of the chopper.

“It appears from the reported statements that the chopper may have been maneuvered excessively. The built-in safety features have protected both the pilots without major injuries,” the statement added.



Dhruv in the background, moments before crash.


Although the helicopter has been cleared from the inquiry, and it was blamed on the pilot error, should this incident be a cause of worry for the Indian HAL.

No, the crash was resulted due to Pilot error, the Dhruv has no technical problems. We don't need to worry about it. They also confirmed that Dhruv is the best helo in its class.

Yes it is, the involvement of Government of India in this matter suggests that something fishy.

Peregrine wrote:Yes it is, the involvement of Government of India in this matter suggests that something fishy.

Care to en-light us ??

Dhruv crash was attributed to Cyclic saturation which results in loss of cyclic control/lift and if this happens at lower altitude with no space to recover a crash is inevitable like the case of Dhruv. Cyclic saturation happens when large opposite cyclic input is used abruptly.

Cheers....

So if it is good. Then why isn't army or AF buying them in decent numbers. Anything related to role or something else

RohanRocks wrote:So if it is good. Then why isn't army or AF buying them in decent numbers. Anything related to role or something else

Over 400 are on order, how much more do you want ?????

400. Thats a good number.