The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd on Saturday decided that all `Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) will remain grounded till the cause of the crash of the Coast Guard helicopter in Porbandar is determined. The HAL has told all operators of the ALH that the flying of the indigenous twin-engine choppers should remain suspended till the “root cause” of the crash on 5 January is established.
According to an official, the preliminary analysis of the data retrieved from the FDR (flight data recorder) and CVR (cockpit voice recorder) has shown that the pilots lost control of the helicopter three to four seconds before the crash which killed two pilots and a crew member.
The ALH Mark-III was procured by the Coast Guard in June 2021, and was hovering at 200 feet altitude after completing a 90-minute training sortie in the Coast Guard Air Enclave in Porbandar. The aircraft suddenly failed to respond to the controls of the pilots, nose-dived into the ground and burst into flames.
Two pilots, Commandant Saurabh and Deputy Commandant S K Yadav, and aircrew diver Manoj Pradhan Navik, were killed in the crash.
Following the crash, all 330 Dhruv Helicopters operated by the armed forces were grounded for safety checks. Earlier on Friday, HAL said that it was carrying out a detailed analysis of the crash and will take a call on whether the ALH fleet can resume flying operations or continue to remain on the ground. Now, it has been decided that the entire fleet will remain grounded till the exact cause of the crash is not found out.
HAL sources have said that the flight data recorder has been recovered and its analysis is going on extensively and it is expected that the exact cause will be known.