NAL seeks regulator’s approval to restart Saras programme

India’s first civilian aircraft programme, Saras, grounded nearly two years ago after a fatal crash, is close to being restarted but likely at double the original budget.
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the designer and developer of the aircraft, has applied to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a product organization approval (POA) to start work on Saras, said its director A. R. Upadhya.
An approval is expected in about two weeks, he said. “We have submitted documents saying that NAL has (fresh) technical expertise and trained manpower to design and develop the aircraft,” he said.
NAL is the aerospace technology arm of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India’s largest public-funded research agency.
It built two prototypes of Saras, a 14-seater multi-purpose aircraft to connect feeder routes. The second prototype crashed in March 2009 during a test flight near Bangalore, killing the three people on board. In its renewal plan for Saras, NAL has proposed converting the first prototype, which had a low-powered engine and weight problems, to a redesigned version of the second prototype with Russian help.
The earlier second prototype was powered by an engine that provided extra thrust but the weight problem remained unresolved. The second prototype will be used purely for test and training for pilots.
04/11/10 Bhargavi Kerur/Live Mint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2011, New Jan 2011