Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters Are Back In Action After A Fleet Wide Grounding

The indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter 'Dhruv', has commenced operations and are back in action after almost two months of grounding, reported the Economic Times.

The grounding came after the 8 March controlled ditching of the Naval Dhruv, after a sudden loss of power at sea. This was followed by another crash of a Coast Guard Naval Dhruv at the Cochin International Airport on 26 March.

Incidentally, the Coast Guard helicopter was on a test flight after extensive maintenance and ground checks.

A coast guard statement has then stated, "immediately after takeoff, when CG 855 was at about 30-40 feet above ground, the cyclic controls (which controls longitudinal and lateral movement of aircraft) did not respond".

"Showing exemplary professionalism and presence of mind, the pilot with bare minimum controls maneuvered the aircraft away from the main runway to avoid blocking the runway at the international airport".

The ET report stated, "Extensive checks on the entire fleet of helicopters, also in service with the Army and Air Force, were under-taken and no signs of any deep-rooted issue with the aircraft were found".

Reportedly both helicopters crashed due to failure of controls. The report said that both the crashes were maintenance related and additional training has been given to maintenance crews to avoid repetition in the future.

"In one case, the crash happened due to improper fitment of washers and in the second case, two similar control rods were interchanged at the time of maintenance," which resulted in the failure of controls leading to sudden loss of power.

The ET report added, "Following the crashes, the entire fleet was assessed by technical teams and no red flags have been raised after thorough checks. Additional training is being given to crews to ensure such issues do not come up again".

Some of the Army ALH Dhruv's, however, have resumed operations after over 10 days of grounding, ANI has reported.

It is to be noted that grounding of entire fleet is not uncommon after a crash. "temporary grounding of a fleet in such cases is absolutely in order. It’s essentially a precautionary move to ensure there is no recurrence,” said a HT report quoting from a former IAF vice chief Air Marshal KK Nohwar (retired)".

Earlier, in 2006, the helicopter had been grounded after tail rotor problems. The helicopter was again grounded in 2014 after a fatal crash that killed seven crew members in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur.

"The helicopter reportedly crashed just two hours after being serviced," according to a report.

The Made In India ALH Dhruv is a twin-engine, multi-role, multi-mission, new-generation helicopter of 5.5-tonne weight class. More than 300 helicopters are in-service in the Army, Air-Force, Navy and Coast Guard.

It has various variants including the armed Dhruv MK-IV -- Rudra which can carry Anti-tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs), rockets and a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun (HMG).

Dhruv has been developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and uses two French-made Shakti engines which allows the helicopter to operate in areas above 18,000 feet at the Siachen glacier.