NAL Outlines Weight Savings Made to
Its Saras Aircraft
.
.
NAL Outlines Weight Savings Made to Its Saras Aircraft | AVIATION WEEK
India's National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is introducing more composite materials into its 14-seat Saras push-turboprop aircraft.
The first two prototype aircraft only had composite materials for the control surfaces, such as the rudder, elevator, and vertical and horizontal stabilizer. But the new prototype, the PT1N, now being built, has a composite wing and bulkhead as well as composite materials for the front top skin and floor sections, a NAL official tells AviationWeek on the sidelines of the India Aviation airshow in Hyderabad.
About 33% of the aircraft will be made of composites. The use of composites - and optimization of the aluminum alloy fuselage - will deliver a 500 kg weight saving over the earlier prototype, the NAL official says.
Saras is a 14-seat transport aircraft that is powered by two turboprop engines, each fuselage-mounted towards the rear, and well back from the wings.
The official says the new prototype has Pratt & Whitney PT-6 engines generating 1,200hp whereas the PT-6 engines on the earlier prototype only generated 850 hp. NAL decided to increase the engine's thrust to ensure the aircraft can achieve a single-engine take off and landing. This is an EASA and FAA requirement, so the aircraft can land and take off even if one of the two engines shuts down, he says.
HAL actually lost one of its first two prototype aircraft in 2009. It crashed after one of the two engines suddenly shut down. All three on board died in the crash.
The organization's joint head of knowledge and technology C. Divakar says it aims to first achieve military certification by the end of 2013, after which it will examine trying to gain civil certification for the Saras.
Divakar says the Indian air force has agreed to buy 15 Saras aircraft and that state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics will be the manufacturer.
HAL is also developing a five-seat general aviation aircraft, the C-NM5, which India's Mahindra Aerospace will be manufacturing and marketing.
NAL senior technical officer and project lead, Shijo Francis, says the C-NM5 completed its first flight on Sept. 1 at Mahindra's Australian subsidiary GippsAero, which built the first test aircraft.
This aircraft has already completed 10 hr. of flight tests and the plan is for it to be certified by the end of 2015 as a FAR Part 23 general aviation aircraft, Francis says.
The C-NM5 is basically a stretched version of NAL's two-seat Hansa-3 trainer aircraft that has European certification and has already gone into production, says Francis. Fourteen Hansa-3s are flying today, all in India, he says.
The C-NM5 can carry either five people, including the pilot, or it can be used as a freighter or for medivac. Francis says the C-NM5 has a large door that folds out in two places, creating a space about two meters wide, so cargo or medical stretchers can be loaded on quickly and easily.
