NAL plans new design for its small aircraft

Bangalore: Facing tough competition, designers at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) are mulling over a change in the configuration of the so-called regional transport aircraft (RTA) they plan to build to run on short-haul feeder routes.
The RTA was envisaged as a 70-90 seat civilian aircraft powered by a turboprop engine—a gas turbine engine used to drive a propeller.
But NAL is now thinking of using a jet engine as well and increasing its capacity to 90-110 passengers.
“We are looking at an aircraft (where) both turboprop and turbojet can be used,” said Samir Brahmachari,director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India’s largest public-funded research agency. NAL is the CSIRlab for aerospace technologies.
27/05/10 K Raghu/Live Mint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2010, New May 2010