NAL Saras, Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) & Hansa Project

[Abhi9]

Re-engined Saras may fly in next few days
Saras may fly in a fortnight - The Times of India

A re-engined and modified version of the 14-seater Saras, the Light Transport Aircraft being developed by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) may finally take off in 15 days. This comes weeks after Light Combat Aircraft Tejas obtained the initial operational clearance-2, almost 30 years since conception.

NAL director Shyam Chetty told TOI: "The aircraft has been handed over to the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment of the Indian Air Force which is doing the ground-runs and familiarization."

He said the original crew members were injured so a new crew is being put together. "Once that's done the low-speed taxi trials will begin," he said, adding that this would be followed by high-speed taxi trials and nose-turning tests.

"Those tests will be completed in 15 days and then aircraft will be ready for its first flight," he said. Saras won't be able to take to the skies without clearances from the safety review board and the first flight review board.

"The aircraft is performing well during basic trials and we're confident that both boards will give us positive signals to do the first flight," Chetty said. The IAF will buy 15 Saras aircraft. The production partner will be Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

The team will be watchful of safety. A crash of a prototype in 2009 forced the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to ground the aircraft.

Saras will boast of multi-role capabilities like feeder line aircraft, air ambulance, executive aircraft, troop transport, reconnaissance, aerial survey and light cargo transport.

The original design included a maximum take-off weight of 6,100kg and a maximum payload of 1,232kg. The first prototype which completed its maiden flight on May 29, 2004, was overweight at 5,118kg compared to the 4,125kg design specifications.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I hope saras takes the role of Do-288 from all services ..

 

[rahulrds1]

source : http://www.nal.res.in/pdf/Overview.pdf

 

[cobra commando]

Five years grounded, Saras revs up to fly again

January 13, 2014: The Indian Air Force's premier testing facility, the Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) has begun ground trials of the PT1N modified and souped-up first prototype. Top sources inform SP's that the Pt1N will be put through an extensive series of ground handling, turning and taxi trials, including static systems trials before it is cleared for a first flight. The IAF has already appointed a pilot crew for the flight, likely to take place in February. The platform has remained on ground since the crash of the second prototype in March 2009, killing all three test personnel on board. As earlier reported by SP's, the modifications to the first prototype include changes to the rear fuselage, increased area rudder, modified stub wings, new engine nacelles and a crucial autopilot. A third prototype, incorporating full weight optimisation and an expanded ratio of composites in the build, is slated for a first flight later this year, after the PT1N clocks at least 25 flights. According to sources associated with the modification of the Saras, the aircraft had grave problems that have since been addressed. Even the ground trials could have commenced earlier, but for NAL's insistence that all simulated tests be corroborated on station before the platform was handed over to the ASTE for operational-level ground and flight testing.

Five years grounded Saras revs up to fly again - SP's MAI

 

[rvjpheonix]

@Twinblade what is exactly is the problem with Saras? If the engine was the one to blame why has it been grounded for more than 4 years now or does it imply any shortcomings in thee aerodynamics? Is there any good neutral source for reading about saras and what is the feasibility of this project in sales?

 

[Twinblade]

@Twinblade what is exactly is the problem with Saras? If the engine was the one to blame why has it been grounded for more than 4 years now or does it imply any shortcomings in thee aerodynamics? Is there any good neutral source for reading about saras and what is the feasibility of this project in sales?

As far is sales is concerned, I don't think it will get much orders outside the Indian government (state governments, defence ministry, home ministry etc). Selling 100 units would be a big achievement in itself with about 60-70 from the military itself. Due to the extremely high ATF costs, do not expect the Indian civil aviation sector to take off anytime soon. The main challenge with the project has been weight and some absolutely horrible engineering and project management.

Here's the DGCA crash report from 2009 crash (conclusions page 64 onwards)
http://dgca.nic.in/accident/reports/VT-XRM.pdf

Parts were okayed without proper testing, contractors were given duties beyond their capabilities, you'd feel nervous sitting in this aircraft after reading the DGCA crash report. It's a good thing that they called in MDB to fix their incompetence.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Saras is a good design after corrections, I hope in future it also comes with turbo fan option in business jets ..

Engine such as Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F ..

 

[Phantom]

The Saras would be a great platform to interlink India's Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with better air-connectivity. The Indian Government should seriously look at adopting the Saras in this role.

And why not use this as an opportunity to develop a parallel private sector Aircraft Manufacturing and Assembly Unit? HAL already has enough up it's sleeve. Mahindra Aerospace, which is already into manufacturing Gippaland AirVans, would be an ideal partner.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

The airport, which sits 5,072 feet above sea level, was built by cutting the crest of a long hill in the region. The airport receives regular domestic flights from Indian Airlines and Jagson Airlines, but no international flights operate there.

The length of the runway is about 3,800 feet. The airport has no ground lighting facilities. It's surrounded by mountains and treacherous weather, including lots of rain. If a plane were to skid or miss the runway, it would probably crash into the mountains. I've seen flights come in that were unable to land.

Because of the tight conditions, only small aircraft like 18-seat Dornier 228s can operate from Shimla Airport. Aircraft such as military AN-32s or larger jets can't land here as they require much longer runways.

There hundred of such kind of Airstrips all over India, People can spend but Aircraft of such catagory are rare ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhuntar_Airport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaggal_Airport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantnagar_Airport
@Decklander Sir ..

 

[CuriousBen]

As far is sales is concerned, I don't think it will get much orders outside the Indian government (state governments, defence ministry, home ministry etc). Selling 100 units would be a big achievement in itself with about 60-70 from the military itself. Due to the extremely high ATF costs, do not expect the Indian civil aviation sector to take off anytime soon. The main challenge with the project has been weight and some absolutely horrible engineering and project management.

Here's the DGCA crash report from 2009 crash (conclusions page 64 onwards)
http://dgca.nic.in/accident/reports/VT-XRM.pdf

Parts were okayed without proper testing, contractors were given duties beyond their capabilities, you'd feel nervous sitting in this aircraft after reading the DGCA crash report. It's a good thing that they called in MDB to fix their incompetence.

I went though the report.
Its sad to know that basics are missing.
I wonder whats so difficult to get the simple things like testing and review done correctly.
All I can infer is that there is lack of professionalism , lack of seriousness and lack of ownership.
Leadership is missing entirely.
I hope that these have been rectified as the report suggest.

 

[Kaalapani]

Is this project alive or cancelled?

 

[laughingbuddha]

Did it fly?

 

[cobra commando]

August 19, 2014: India's first indigenous civilian aircraft, the 14-seater push-prop SARAS could get back into the air any day now. After a five-year grounding following a devastating March 2009 crash that killed its there- man IAF test crew, the National Aerospace Laboratory, in coordination with the IAF's Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) are undersood to be confident of a first flight before Diwali this year. As reported earlier by SP's, the ASTE had begun ground trials of the modified PT1N platform around December last year, and has undergone a rigorous routine of ground handling, turning and taxi trials, including static systems trials. Former NAL chief and aerospace guru Prof. Roddam Narasimha recently spoke out about the various programmes, and said that the proposed the Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) could spearhead a much needed new wave in Indian capabilities alongside the Saras. "It should be a turbo-prop aircraft, executed in a public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, preferably as part of a global consortium, and should be viewed as a common "civil- military" platform that would also address the transport aircraft needs of the Indian Air Force in terms of the Avro and AN-32 replacements, thus generating the numbers and associated economic viability needed to make it successful," he said.

SP�s Exculsive - SP's Aviation

 

[Jagdish58]

August 19, 2014: India's first indigenous civilian aircraft, the 14-seater push-prop SARAS could get back into the air any day now. After a five-year grounding following a devastating March 2009 crash that killed its there- man IAF test crew, the National Aerospace Laboratory, in coordination with the IAF's Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) are undersood to be confident of a first flight before Diwali this year. As reported earlier by SP's, the ASTE had begun ground trials of the modified PT1N platform around December last year, and has undergone a rigorous routine of ground handling, turning and taxi trials, including static systems trials. Former NAL chief and aerospace guru Prof. Roddam Narasimha recently spoke out about the various programmes, and said that the proposed the Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) could spearhead a much needed new wave in Indian capabilities alongside the Saras. "It should be a turbo-prop aircraft, executed in a public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, preferably as part of a global consortium, and should be viewed as a common "civil- military" platform that would also address the transport aircraft needs of the Indian Air Force in terms of the Avro and AN-32 replacements, thus generating the numbers and associated economic viability needed to make it successful," he said.

SP�s Exculsive - SP's Aviation

Good news :thumb: al last

 

[biswaranjanrath.sipu]

I think it may be inducted into iaf after 2030 at the earliest.

 

[sgarg]

Just found out that Saras is built by Taneja Aerospace (TAAL) as per design provided by NAL.

Good to know that at least one aviation project has a private company as designated production agency.

The problem with Saras is that the product it is trying to replace - Dornier , is a very successful aircraft. Dornier does not need a replacement.

So Saras is a plane without a market.

 

[Dhairya Yadav]

Just found out that Saras is built by Taneja Aerospace (TAAL) as per design provided by NAL.

Good to know that at least one aviation project has a private company as designated production agency.

The problem with Saras is that the product it is trying to replace - Dornier , is a very successful aircraft. Dornier does not need a replacement.

So Saras is a plane without a market.

True. Replacing Dornier makes no sense. If in future we need a replacement, we got Do228NG , whose structures are made by HAL.

 

[Twinblade]

Just found out that Saras is built by Taneja Aerospace (TAAL) as per design provided by NAL.

Good to know that at least one aviation project has a private company as designated production agency.

The problem with Saras is that the product it is trying to replace - Dornier , is a very successful aircraft. Dornier does not need a replacement.

So Saras is a plane without a market.

Wrong. The tender to build Saras was won by HAL (over L&T and Mahindra), TAAL simply builds the aerostructure as a contractor for HAL, while HAL is the lead integrator.
HAL to manufacture NAL-designed, 14-seater passenger aircraft, Saras | NASSCOM

TAAL was involved in building up the first three prototypes of the 14 seat, SARAS aircraft for the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL). TAAL has manufactured the entire airframe of the aircraft (excluding the wings which are manufactured by HAL) including tooling, parts and assembly. The first prototype is now under flight-testing.

Taneja Aerospace & Aviation Ltd - Aircraft Manufacturing & Maintenance Centre - Work Examples

 

[hitesh]

Here is a comparison of HAL Dornier DO-228 and NAL saras

Dornier DO-228
Crew: two pilots
Capacity: 19 passengers
Payload: 2,340 kg freight (5,158 lb)
Length: 16.56 m (54 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 16.97 m (55 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 32.0 m² (344 sq ft)
Airfoil: A-5
Empty weight: 3,739 kg (8,243 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 6,400 kg (-212) 6,200 kg (-202K) 6,100 kg (-202) 5,700 (-101) (14,550 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Garrett AiResearch TPE-331-5-252D or -10 variation( GP and GT ) turboprop, 578 kW (776 shp flat rated for -5A and -10 powerplants Available at 30 Celsius at Sea Level / 715 shp flat rated for -5 variations) each

Crew: 3 (Pilot,Co-Pilot,Flight Engineer)
Capacity: 14 passengers
Length: 15.02 m (49.28 ft)
Wingspan: 14.70 m (48.23 ft)
Height: 5.20 m (17.06 ft)
Useful load: 1,232 kg (2,710 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 7,100 kg (15,653 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A turboprop, 1200 shp (895 kW) each
Propellers: 5-blade constant speed MT-Propellers propeller, 1 per engine

 

[Kunal Biswas]

We have to understand that we are not talking in sense of civil lain aerospace but military ..

There are many modification needed to be done for specific workload, On DO-228 we cannot do as this aircraft is ' Imported ', Any modification would cause illegal changes by the user to the original design by the company ..

With SARAS we don`t have such issues, Some example that can be done with SARAS but not DO-228 ..

1. EW aircraft
2. AEW aircraft
3. Recon Aircraft
4. Naval strike and recon Aircraft ..

Etc ..

The problem with Saras is that the product it is trying to replace - Dornier , is a very successful aircraft. Dornier does not need a replacement.

True. Replacing Dornier makes no sense. If in future we need a replacement, we got Do228NG , whose structures are made by HAL.