Multiple crashes involving the HAL Dhruv helicopter has raised serious concern about the safety and reliability of the Indian built mult...
Multiple crashes involving the HAL Dhruv helicopter has raised serious concern about the safety and reliability of the Indian built multi role helicopter.
The recent being the back to back accidents involving Ecuadorian Dhruv on Jan 13. and Jan 27. The only relief being the non fatality, again proving the crashworthy design.
The crash brings the total crashed Ecuadorian Air Force Dhruvs to four, representing a loss rate close to 60 percent.
Indian state owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) won the Ecuadorian USD 45 million deal for seven Dhruvs in 2008 beating Elbit, Airbus Helicopters and Russian Helicopters. The deal was the first major export success for Indian defence industry.
Following the accidents, Equador has restricted operations on the remaining Dhruvs, pending a through check.
HAL supplied the 7 Dhruvs to Ecuadorian Air Force during 2009-2012. A major crash occurred in Feb. 2014 when an a Dhruv customised for VVIP transport, used to transport Ecuadorian president crashed, killing 3 of the 4 onboard.
The first crash occured within months from delivery, in Oct. 2009 when one of the Dhruv during a flypast slammed into the ground, which was later attributed to pilot error.
The Dhruv entered service with Indian armed forces in 2002, following a lengthy development period marred by delays and sanctions.
The Indian Dhruv fleet numbering more than 100 was also involved in crashes and was grounded twice.
The Advanced Light Helicopter -DHRUV is a twin engined, multi-role, multi-mission helicopter in the 5.5 ton weight class.
The helicopter airframe and rotors are built using composites and the latest Mk-IV variant is powered by a more powerful HAL-Turbomeca Shakti/Ardiden 1H1 turboshaft engine.
