Bengaluru:

India’s first indigenous flying trainer ‘HANSA-NG’ designed and developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, has 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 1.5 hours at a cruising speed of 155 km/hr on February 19, NAL said in a release on Saturday.

The objective of these trials were to evaluate handling qualities, climb/cruise performance, balked landing, structural performance including positive and negative G, power plant and other systems performance at sea level, it said.

All the objectives of the sea-level trials were met and the aircraft was ferried back to Bengaluru on March 5, after completing 18 hours flying in Puducherry, it said.

The aircraft was piloted by Wing Commander K V Prakash and Wing Commander Dilip Reddy of Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), and the flight was monitored by NAL designers and Wg. Cdr. Reeju Chakraborty as Flight Test Director from telemetry.

According to NAL, HANSA-NG is one of the most advanced flying trainers powered by Rotax Digital Control Engine with unique features like Just-In-Time Prepreg (JIPREG) Composite Lightweight Airframe, glass cockpit, bubble canopy with wide panoramic view, electrically operated flaps, etc.

It is designed to meet the Indian flying club needs and it is an ideal aircraft for Commercial Pilot Licensing (CPL) due to its low cost and low fuel consumption, it said, adding that NAL has already received more than 80 LoIs (Letter of Intents) from various flying clubs.

NAL Director Jitendra J Jadhav said a total of 37 flights and 50 hours of flying have been completed and few more flights will be conducted before getting Type Certification by DGCA.

Type Certification is likely to be completed by April and thereafter the manufacturing will be initiated with public/private industry that will enhance the aerospace ecosystem under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, he said.

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