After 16 Years and Rs 300 Crore, Civil Aircraft Dream Crashlands

[Water Car Engineer]

NAL is part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) headed by the prime minister.

Confirming that work on the project has been completely stopped, NAL director Shyam Chetty told Express: “Funding for the project stopped from December 31, 2013, but the work went on much beyond. Eventually, we had to stop the work when we ran out of lab funds. It was a Rs 300 crore project.”

“People who were working on the Saras project were redeployed for other projects where skills sets required are similar as NAL takes up lots of work in the strategic sector,” he said.

A turning point for the project was when a Saras aircraft on test flight crashed in 2009, killing two pilots and a flight test engineer from the Indian Air Force. IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment located close to the HAL airport in Bengaluru was conducting tests and the aircraft was carrying out an ‘engine relight’ procedure when it crashed. The project never fully recovered from that crash.

“This was India’s first project to design and develop a civilian aircraft. At one point, around 600 people, including those from NAL, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and private sector were working on it,” the former NAL officer said.

“Now, all that work seems to have gone for a waste as the aircraft and the infrastructure created for the purpose are rendered useless.” Currently, two aircraft - one fully built and the other nearly complete - are parked at NAL’s Belur campus in the city.

After 16 Years and Rs 300 Crore, Civil Aircraft Dream Crashlands -The New Indian Express

Good decision, I think.

RIP

 

[Genesis]

50 million USD, one G650 cost more. If India wants to make a go at these projects, no less than 20 billion needs to be spent.

 

[surya kiran]

The NAL should be completely privatised in my opinion. Why should the government spend money on commercial planes. Let Mahindra take-over this company. Suddenly planes will start rolling out in 5 years with 10 crores.

 

[Maira La]

A turning point for the project was when a Saras aircraft on test flight crashed in 2009, killing two pilots and a flight test engineer from the Indian Air Force. IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment located close to the HAL airport in Bengaluru was conducting tests and the aircraft was carrying out an ‘engine relight’ procedure when it crashed. The project never fully recovered from that crash. -- The Indian Express

Glad to see work on the project stopped before putting more human lives at risk!

GoI's got enough money to get some good, safe passenger jets from the West, Russia or even China in the near future.

 

[surya kiran]

50 million USD, one G650 cost more. If India wants to make a go at these projects, no less than 20 billion needs to be spent.

Yes. But, why should the government make planes for the civil sector?

 

[Kachra Seth]

Yeah, really good decision. You do all the hard work, complete 85% of the work and then scrap the project, because of some accident.
Reminds me of DRDO AWACS project which was scrapped in the 90s due to similar reasons.
Maybe be after 2 decades, we will again start this project and start working from scratch.

 

[Tshering22]

Glad to see work on the project stopped before putting more human lives at risk!

GoI's got enough money to get some good, safe passenger jets from the West, Russia or even China in the near future.

We want to be self-sufficient in this and soon so in the future.

Even west, China and Russia failed many times when they started out initially.

You don't get success if you are not willing to fail.

NAL needs to be privatized. Period.

Yeah, really good decision. You do all the hard work, complete 85% of the work and then scrap the project, because of some accident.
Reminds me of DRDO AWACS project which was scrapped in the 90s due to similar reasons.
Maybe be after 2 decades, we will again start this project and start working from scratch.

I hope NAL comes under a private conglomerate.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Yeah, really good decision. You do all the hard work, complete 85% of the work and then scrap the project, because of some accident.
Reminds me of DRDO AWACS project which was scrapped in the 90s due to similar reasons.
Maybe be after 2 decades, we will again start this project and start working from scratch.

They were paying out of pocket since 2013, must of their staff were being posted else where. If there is no urgency to make this work, it absolutely should be canned.

 

[Maira La]

We want to be self-sufficient in this and soon so in the future.

Even west, China and Russia failed many times when they started out initially.

You don't get success if you are not willing to fail.

Have you heard of the phrase "do not reinvent the wheel?" You don't have to try so hard when other countries with better human resources can provide you sophisticated, reliable and safe aircrafts. You're prioritizing nationalistic ego over safety!

 

[surya kiran]

Reminds me of DRDO AWACS project which was scrapped in the 90s due to similar reasons.

That project got scrapped, not just because of loss of aircraft. All the brains were killed in the crash, not just the pilots. Post that crash there are very restrictions in place for contingencies and who can test with who.

 

[Tshering22]

Have you heard of the phrase "do not reinvent the wheel?" You don't have to try so hard when other countries with better human resources can provide you sophisticated, reliable and safe aircrafts. You're prioritizing nationalistic ego over safety!

We are prioritizing self-reliance and industrial competitiveness in the future. Airbus and Boeing became what they are through grit, hard work, vision and relentless trials. If they had stopped after their crashes, we would today still be going by ships around the world.

There can be safety mechanisms built for the testing pilots and crew which sadly can only be learnt this way.

Besides, we are one of the largest aviation markets to existing aircraft already. Look at our fleet orders with Airbus.

Yes. But, why should the government make planes for the civil sector?

Because NAL and other design bureaus also design defence related stuff.

Although I am all for privatizing aerospace 100%.

 

[Dungeness]

After 16 Years and Rs 300 Crore, Civil Aircraft Dream Crashlands -The New Indian Express

Good decision, I think.

RIP

HAL people should be more persistent, like our PDF Indian friends here. It could have been a great milestone for Indian Aviation industry. Hope HAL got some know-how in the process.

 

[surya kiran]

Because NAL and other design bureaus also design defence related stuff.

Yes. Those can be separated and sent to HAL, if the GoI wants to maintain that team. Or they could be sent to the ADA. Commercial planes from public money is sheer nonsense. Its not strategic in nature. Even if commercialisation was the key, NAL is not tuned internally for looking at profitability.

HAL people should be more persistent, like our PDF Indian friends here. It could have been a great milestone for Indian Aviation industry. Hope HAL got some know-how in the process.

HAL is different and NAL is different. What they are speaking about here is NAL.

 

[TopCat]

We are prioritizing self-reliance and industrial competitiveness in the future. Airbus and Boeing became what they are through grit, hard work, vision and relentless trials. If they had stopped after their crashes, we would today still be going by ships around the world.

There can be safety mechanisms built for the testing pilots and crew which sadly can only be learnt this way.

Besides, we are one of the largest aviation markets to existing aircraft already. Look at our fleet orders with Airbus.



Because NAL and other design bureaus also design defence related stuff.

Although I am all for privatizing aerospace 100%.

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 49%
industry: 20%
services: 31%

The World Factbook

You should invest more on fertilizer and cattle dude. Not some aircraft which 99.9% of Indian only seen in the sky.

 

[mkb95]

i think its stupid to cancel a big project just bcos of one crash.many great planes have had crashes in their early days
like f-117,v-22 but then they became best in their catagory .
if today we work on these small planes only then we can make big commercial jet in future.
govt. should transfer the developed technology to private firms and revive the project.