Saras aircraft crashes during test flight, three killed

Bangalore, Mar 6 (PTI) A second prototype of Saras,
India's first indigenously designed civilian plane, crashed
during a test flight Friday killing all the three crew members
on board at Bidadi near here in the southern Indian state of
Karnataka.

The NAL-built small prototype aircraft crashlanded in
an open area at Sheshagirihalli, at 3.45 pm and burst into
flames.

Charred bodies of Wing Commander Praveen, Wing
Commander Shah and Squadron Leader Ilayaraja were retrieved
from the wreckage of the aircraft which was completely
destroyed in the accident, police said.

The aircraft was second prototype of Saras and was on
its test flight schedule, a top official of state-run National
Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) said.

"The aircraft lost control and crash-landed near
Bidadi," he said adding, "We lost three crew members". The
crew members were experienced persons drawn from Air Force.

On the cause of the crash, he said, "It is too early
to say.... An inquiry would be conducted". The aircraft, which
is eight to 14-seater, was on its 49th test flight.

On whether the crash was a setback to the Saras
project, he said, "It should not have happened...Yes there
will be a setback... but we need to move forward and see what
has to be done".

"We have to look at the data. An inquiry would be
conducted and an expert team would analyse the data and submit
its report," the NAL official told PTI.

He said they would have to wait the details of the
data analysis and examine it in depth. All this, he said,
usually took some time.

Police said five fire tenders were pressed into
service to douse the blaze and a parachute was found at the
crash site.

Top officials of NAL rushed to the spot soon after
the incident.

Saras, a multi-role light transport aircraft, is
aimed at meeting the requirements of executive transport, air
ambulance and other community services.

Two prototypes of the aircraft are currently flying.
The first one had completed 126 flights logging around 70
hours. Both the prototypes had featured in Aero India shows.

Currently work is on to reduce the weight of the
aircraft by 500 kg and the production standard aircraft is
expected to have its first flight this year. PTI JD
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