Isro to join project for passenger plane

Bangalore: India's space agency will be made a partner in the country's Rs2,500 crore passenger plane project so it can share its technology expertise, infrastructure and programme management skills and help avoid the mistakes and delays seen in previous projects.
The so-called regional transport aircraft, or RTA-70, being designed to carry 70-90 passengers on short-haul routes, is India's ambitious attempt to build a civilian plane and bridge the gap in aeronautical expertise with countries such as China and Brazil.The Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, "will be part of a consortium," said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the research council of National Aerospace Laboratories, or NAL, a public-funded agency focused on civil aerospace technologies. "NAL will lead the project." Nair, a former head of Isro, said the plane project would be run by an independent commercial body, with public and private partners, including an overseas aerospace firm. He did not name the private firms. The plane project is yet to get government sanction but is listed in the science and technology plan in the 11th Plan that ends in 2012.Once approved, the plane project will take around six years to build and be certified for operations, said C.G. Krishnadas Nair, president of the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries, or Siati, a body that promotes home-grown enterprises in the aerospace and defence sectors.
NAL has built two civilian planes so far: Hansa, a two-seater trainer, is being flown in some flying clubs but is not a commercial success yet. Saras, a 14-seater plane project in the works for nearly two decades, has been suspended till an inquiry is completed into the crash of a prototype in March that killed two pilots.In the late 1990s, military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, and Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR dropped a plan to make turboprop planes jointly in Kanpur, citing limited market opportunity.But economic growth since then and the boom in India's civil aviation sector has presented a fresh opportunity to build planes locally.
29/12/09 K. Raghu/Live Mint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2009, New Dec 2009