India’s first indigenous flying trainer aircraft Hansa-NG, designed and developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) here, successfully completed the sea-level trials at Puducherry from February 19 to March 5.
The aircraft was flown to Puducherry covering a distance of 140 nautical miles in one-and-half hours at a cruising speed of 155 km/hr on February 19.
The objective of these trials was to evaluate handling qualities, climb/cruise performance, balked landing, structural performance, including positive and negative G, power plant and other systems performance at the sea level.
NAL sources said all the objectives of the sea-level trials were met and the aircraft was ferried back to Bengaluru on Saturday after completing 18 hours of flying at Puducherry. The aircraft was piloted by Wg Cdr K V Prakash and Wg Cdr Dilip Reddy of ASTE.
The flight was monitored by NAL designers and Wg Cdr Reeju Chakraborty as Flight Test Director from telemetry.
Hansa-NG is an advanced flying trainer powered by Rotax Digital Control Engine with unique features such as Just-In-Time Prepreg (JIPREG) Composite Light Weight Airframe, Glass Cockpit, Bubble Canopy with a wide panoramic view and electrically operated flaps.
According to NAL, the aircraft is designed to meet the needs of the Indian flying club. “It is an ideal aircraft for Commercial Pilot Licensing (CPL) due to its low cost and low fuel consumption. NAL has already received more than 80 LoIs (Letter of Intents) from various flying clubs,” an official informed.
A top NAL official said the aircraft has till date completed 37 flights and 50 hours of flying. A few more flights will be conducted before it receives Type Certification by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Type Certification is likely to be completed by April 2022 and thereafter, the manufacturing will be initiated with the public/private industry, which will enhance the aerospace ecosystem under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the official said.
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