Slimmer Saras To Fly By Year-End

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[size=4]India’s first multi-role light transport aircraft programme Saras, which suffered a major setback following the crash of an aircraft prototype in 2010, is back on track.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]The Saras Production Standard Aircraft (PSA), which is the third prototype of the Saras programme, is under assembly at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and is expected to fly in the last quarter of 2012.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]The Saras PSA, whose all-up weight was reduced by 500 kg using advanced composite components such as wings, empennage, pressure bulkhead, fuselage top skin and weight-optimised fuselage structure, is under fabrication at NAL, said the Bangalore-based Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) governed laboratory in its annual report.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]This apart, the carbon composite wing is being fabricated using, for the first time, a fully in-house developed technology called VERITy (Vacuum Enhanced Resin Infusion Technology)[/size][size=4].[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]The Saras PSA will be fully equipped with a digital cockpit and advanced avionics and flight control systems that include MFDs (multi-function displays), a fully digital autopilot, an EICAS (the engine instruments and crew alerting system), and an all-moving horizontal tail.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]NAL is hopeful that the aircraft will fly in the last quarter of 2012 and be certified by the end of 2013 under FAR-23 regulations.
The Saras programme, which has seen several upheavals in the 1990’s due to sanctions following the Pokhran tests, took off in 2004 when the first prototype of the aircraft (P-1) made its maiden flight in 2004.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
[size=4]However, the programme suffered a blow when its second prototype (P-2) crashed during a test sortie due to an incorrect relight procedure killing three Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, Wing Commander Praveen K, Wing Commander Dipesh Shah and Squadron Leader Ilayaraja, on board in the outskirts of Bangalore. The Saras is a 14-seater aircraft and the IAF has placed an order for 15 aircraft.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=arial, verdana][size=3]
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