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Ecuador loses another Dhruv helo to crash

Gryphon

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Gareth Jennings, London and Oliver Shorvon, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

27 January 2015

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As the only export customer of the type, Ecuador has now lost four of its seven Dhruv helicopters to accidents. India, which manufactures and also operates the helicopter (pictured), has grounded the Dhruv on several occasions over safety concerns. Source: HAL

The Ecuadorian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana: FAE) lost a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Dhruv utility helicopter to a training accident in late January, the second to be lost this month and the fourth since deliveries began in 2009.

The accident, which is reported to have occurred on 27 January (the Ministry of Defence has yet to confirm it), happened near the town of Tena in the remote interior of the country.

According to the reports, there were no casualties among the four personnel on board.

Ecuador signed the agreement with HAL in 2008 for seven Dhruv helicopters at a cost of USD45 million. These were to be delivered in kit form and assembled in Ecuador, but this plan was later abandoned with the aircraft instead being manufactured in India.

In FAE service the Dhruv is operated by 2211 Combat Squadron, 22 Combat Wing (221 Combat Group), based at Simón Bolivar Airbase.

COMMENT
With this accident, the FAE has lost more than half of its Dhruv fleet in less than five years of operations. The first aircraft was lost on 28 October 2009, the second on 22 February 2014, the third on 13 January 2015, and the most recent reportedly on 27 January 2015. While at least one of these incidents has been attributed to pilot error, a loss rate of close to 60% is significant.

Dhruv crashes have not just been confined to Ecuador, the type's only export customer. India has also suffered multiple losses since introducing the type into service with its armed forces in 2002. Indeed, India has grounded its entire fleet on several occasions following crashes.

Whatever the findings of this latest accident turn out to be, the Dhruv cannot afford many more of these unfortunate incidents if future export sales are not to be adversely affected.

(317 words)

Ecuador loses another Dhruv helo to crash - IHS Jane's 360
 
Forget any future export of this junk.
Lol,we have been operating over 200 of these choppers for the last 14 years and only 5 of them have crashed since it's inception.Now India operates these choppers in all kinds of environments and still the crash rate is negligible compared to the other choppers in our inventory.On the other hand the Equadorian Air Force has crashed 4 out of it's 7 choppers since the last 8 years,so it certainly raises the question on the training of the Equadorian Air Force's pilots:coffee:!!
 
Lol,we have been operating over 200 of these choppers for the last 14 years and only 5 of them have crashed since it's inception.Now India operates these choppers in all kinds of environments and still the crash rate is negligible compared to the other choppers in our inventory.On the other hand the Equadorian Air Force has crashed 4 out of it's 7 choppers since the last 8 years,so it certainly raises the question on the training of the Equadorian Air Force's pilots:coffee:!!
3 out of the total 4 crashes of Eucadorian air force were due to malfuntioning
 
Lol,we have been operating over 200 of these choppers for the last 14 years and only 5 of them have crashed since it's inception.Now India operates these choppers in all kinds of environments and still the crash rate is negligible compared to the other choppers in our inventory.On the other hand the Equadorian Air Force has crashed 4 out of it's 7 choppers since the last 8 years,so it certainly raises the question on the training of the Equadorian Air Force's pilots:coffee:!!

Russia said the same thing about Migs
 
In FAE service the Dhruv is operated by 2211 Combat Squadron, 22 Combat Wing (221 Combat Group), based at Simón Bolivar Airbase.

the two highlighted terms are such contradictions... the first is western bloc and the second is eastern bloc.
 
Russia said the same thing about Migs
Yeah,we do admit that most of the crashes that involved Mig-21 aircraft were due to pilot errors and the reason behind this is that the of an advanced Trainer in the IAF inventory for a long time and hence it used the Mig-21 aircraft specially the Type-77 and Type-88 ones for this role.Now all of us know that the Mig-21 being a supersonic jet is extremely difficult to handle specially during the landing phase due to it's high terminal speed and most of the accidents actually took place because of putting the inexperienced rookie trainees to fly this aircraft.We lost a lot of good rookies due to this fiasco_Other than that even Russia itself had agreed to the fact that the Mig-23 had some serious engine related troubles and hence they themselves retired them prematurely.The same goes with the Mig-27 as it also has the same engine related trouble.Plus I.A.F. is also personally responsible for these crashes as it is a well known fact that the average air frame life of the Soviet and the Russian aircraft are a fraction of their western counterparts and you simply can't fly these machines for than 50-100 hrs/yr.But the I.A.F. being a highly motivated professional force follows the western routine and an average combat pilot of the IAF generally lodges well over 150 hrs/yr which is the main reason for a significant no. of crashes:coffee:.

3 out of the total 4 crashes of Eucadorian air force were due to malfuntioning
Absolutely incorrect,3 of the 4 crashes including today's crash are still under investigation and i am quite sure that their outcome will be in favor of the machine!!
HAL Dhruv - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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Lol,we have been operating over 200 of these choppers for the last 14 years and only 5 of them have crashed since it's inception.Now India operates these choppers in all kinds of environments and still the crash rate is negligible compared to the other choppers in our inventory.On the other hand the Equadorian Air Force has crashed 4 out of it's 7 choppers since the last 8 years,so it certainly raises the question on the training of the Equadorian Air Force's pilots:coffee:!!

More than a dozen have crashed domestically and more would have crashed but the Dhruv fleet thankfully remains grounded most of the time.

Ecuador which operates several bigger helicopters and jets seems to have no problem with them

The Dhruv is a disaster
 
While this crash is still under investigation all previous Equador Dhruv crashes have been due to Human error, one of they have been due go unprofessional tampering of Tail rotor by Equador technicians.

Also the article failed to mention HAL has already supplied a attrition replacement to EAF and HAL technicians are being dispatched to repair the Dhruv which carried out an emergency landing on 13 Jan.
 
3 out of the total 4 crashes of Eucadorian air force were due to malfuntioning

Probably all 4 were manufacturing defects but HAL has bribed FAE officers to a great extent.
One commander who opposed Dhruv purchase was assassinated.

While this crash is still under investigation all previous Equador Dhruv crashes have been due to Human error, one of they have been due go unprofessional tampering of Tail rotor by Equador technicians.

Also the article failed to mention HAL has already supplied a attrition replacement to EAF and HAL technicians are being dispatched to repair the Dhruv which carried out an emergency landing on 13 Jan.

emergency landing?

 
Yeah,we do admit that most of the crashes that involved Mig-21 aircraft were due to pilot errors and the reason behind this is that the of an advanced Trainer in the IAF inventory for a long time and hence it used the Mig-21 aircraft specially the Type-77 and Type-88 ones for this role.Now all of us know that the Mig-21 being a supersonic jet is extremely difficult to handle specially during the landing phase due to it's high terminal speed and most of the accidents actually took place because of putting the inexperienced rookie trainees to fly this aircraft.We lost a lot of good rookies due to this fiasco_Other than that even Russia itself had agreed to the fact that the Mig-23 had some serious engine related troubles and hence they themselves retired them prematurely.The same goes with the Mig-27 as it also has the same engine related trouble.Plus I.A.F. is also personally responsible for these crashes as it is a well known fact that the average air frame life of the Soviet and the Russian aircraft are a fraction of their western counterparts and you simply can't fly these machines for than 50-100 hrs/yr.But the I.A.F. being a highly motivated professional force follows the western routine and an average combat pilot of the IAF generally lodges well over 150 hrs/yr which is the main reason for a significant no. of crashes:coffee:.

your points are valid about MIGs, but they don't apply to a low tech helicopter
 
India operates hundreds of Dhruv's combined in all the 3 forces!

And apart from initial crashes, we are running them just fine in a variety of roles from jungles to the coasts!

How is it that Ecuador has managed to crash almost half its fleet! Either HAL sent them factory rejects or their chopper pilots cant fly worth a damn!
 
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Gareth Jennings, London and Oliver Shorvon, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

27 January 2015

1532569_-_main.jpg

As the only export customer of the type, Ecuador has now lost four of its seven Dhruv helicopters to accidents. India, which manufactures and also operates the helicopter (pictured), has grounded the Dhruv on several occasions over safety concerns. Source: HAL

The Ecuadorian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana: FAE) lost a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Dhruv utility helicopter to a training accident in late January, the second to be lost this month and the fourth since deliveries began in 2009.

The accident, which is reported to have occurred on 27 January (the Ministry of Defence has yet to confirm it), happened near the town of Tena in the remote interior of the country.

According to the reports, there were no casualties among the four personnel on board.

Ecuador signed the agreement with HAL in 2008 for seven Dhruv helicopters at a cost of USD45 million. These were to be delivered in kit form and assembled in Ecuador, but this plan was later abandoned with the aircraft instead being manufactured in India.

In FAE service the Dhruv is operated by 2211 Combat Squadron, 22 Combat Wing (221 Combat Group), based at Simón Bolivar Airbase.

COMMENT
With this accident, the FAE has lost more than half of its Dhruv fleet in less than five years of operations. The first aircraft was lost on 28 October 2009, the second on 22 February 2014, the third on 13 January 2015, and the most recent reportedly on 27 January 2015. While at least one of these incidents has been attributed to pilot error, a loss rate of close to 60% is significant.

Dhruv crashes have not just been confined to Ecuador, the type's only export customer. India has also suffered multiple losses since introducing the type into service with its armed forces in 2002. Indeed, India has grounded its entire fleet on several occasions following crashes.

Whatever the findings of this latest accident turn out to be, the Dhruv cannot afford many more of these unfortunate incidents if future export sales are not to be adversely affected.

(317 words)

Ecuador loses another Dhruv helo to crash - IHS Jane's 360

Many other nations also operate Dhruv Nepal,Maturities to give a example & not our problem if the FAE is not flying the Dhruv Fleet properly
 
More than a dozen have crashed domestically and more would have crashed but the Dhruv fleet thankfully remains grounded most of the time.

Ecuador which operates several bigger helicopters and jets seems to have no problem with them

The Dhruv is a disaster
Only 5 of those accidents were turned out to be fatal plus you are forgetting the fact that the Armed Forces operates more than 200 Dhruvs and only 5 of them crashed in the last 14 years(3 others crash landed and were later repaired by HAL) and mind it they are used extensively and not grounded most of the time as mentioned by you.So how come the E.A.F. lost 60% of their Dhriv fleet in a matter of 8 years!Although 3 of the crashes are still under investigation personally i think that either their pilot training or their maintenance is not upto the mark and hence the crashes.
 
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