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By Akshay Dongare: Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, an Indian Army helicopter, crashed on the banks of Marua river in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar on Thursday, killing one and injuring two pilots.
The chopper, which was on an operational mission, had to make a precautionary landing due to a technical fault. The recent spate of ‘hard landings’ involving ALH is becoming a major concern for the Indian Army, which heavily relies on the helicopter for its daily operations.
The Kashmir hard landing was the third such incident in the last two months. The other two hard landings involved an ALH of Indian Navy and coast guard. In the latest incident, a technician of the Indian Army lost his life while two pilots were injured after the ALH Dhruv helicopter made a hard landing on the banks of the Marua river.
WHAT IS HARD LANDING?
A hard landing occurs when a chopper hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. They can be caused by weather conditions, mechanical problems, overweight aircraft, pilot decisions. The term hard landing usually implies that the pilot still has total or partial control over the aircraft, as opposed to an uncontrolled descent into terrain (a crash).
RECENT INCIDENTS
The first incident was reported on March 8 when an ALH of the Indian Navy made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea due to a sudden loss of power and loss of height. The second incident took place on March 26 when an ALH Dhruv Mark 3 helicopter of the Indian Coast Guard was involved in a forced landing incident in Kochi.
Following the incidents, all three services and the coast guard grounded their entire fleets of the indigenous advanced light helicopter for safety checks.
While the Army, Airforce, and Coast Guard resumed their flying operations after comprehensive checks, the Navy is still conducting safety checks before resuming the flying operations of the Advance Light Helicopters.
WHAT’S CAUSING THIS?
According to sources, the problem leading to the recent incidents involved the fitment of the control rods, and checks revealed that the fitment rods of some helicopters were not up to the mark.
HIGH DEPENDENCY ON ALH
Despite the accidents involving the ALH, the resumption of flying operations by the Army is due to the high dependency on the ALH Dhruv.
The Indian Army is the largest operator of the ALH with a fleet of 145 helicopters, including 75 weaponised versions of the helicopter called ALH Mark IV Rudra, followed by the Indian Airforce, which operates 75, the Indian Navy, which operates 18, and the Coast Guard, which operates 20 ALH Dhruv Mark 3 and Mark 4.
UTILITY HELICOPTER
A utility helicopter is a multi-purpose helicopter capable of fulfilling many different roles. The Indian Army uses the ALH helicopters for roles such as ground attack, air assault, military logistics, evacuations, command and control, and transportation of troops.
ALH HISTORY
The ALH is a 5-ton multi-role helicopter, and the development project of the helicopter started in 1979. In 1984, HAL was given the contract to manufacture the helicopter, and the first prototype of the ALH was built in 1992. The helicopters were inducted into the armed forces in 2002.
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