Over the last week the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), designed and built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), moved a crucial step closer to operational service by successfully completing a set of gruelling trials in the desert areas around Jodhpur.
These were the LCH's "hot weather flight trials", designed to check whether it could meet its performance requirements even in blazing temperatures, with oxygen in short supply. HAL pilots proved their helicopter's ability to meet its performance specifications, handling qualities and loads, even at low speeds when a helicopter engine is gasping for air.
In February, the LCH had successfully completed "cold weather flight trials" in North Pullu in Ladakh. There the LCH was required to start up on internal batteries and get airborne after an overnight "soak" in the 20 degrees Celsius cold. Operating from a helipad at 4,600 metres (15,000 feet) above sea level, the LCH test-flew at altitudes of 6,500 metres (21,300 feet)).
27/06/15 Ajai Shukla/Business Standard
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
These were the LCH's "hot weather flight trials", designed to check whether it could meet its performance requirements even in blazing temperatures, with oxygen in short supply. HAL pilots proved their helicopter's ability to meet its performance specifications, handling qualities and loads, even at low speeds when a helicopter engine is gasping for air.
In February, the LCH had successfully completed "cold weather flight trials" in North Pullu in Ladakh. There the LCH was required to start up on internal batteries and get airborne after an overnight "soak" in the 20 degrees Celsius cold. Operating from a helipad at 4,600 metres (15,000 feet) above sea level, the LCH test-flew at altitudes of 6,500 metres (21,300 feet)).
27/06/15 Ajai Shukla/Business Standard
