Mysuru,
Jan 01: India’s
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas cleared one of the most critical flight test
parameters in the programme, when the pilots pulled 8 'g' (limit of envelope)
during its ongoing test flights in Bengaluru.
By doing so, it has
cleared a key point towards the Final Operational Clearance (FOC), as mandated
by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Sources told OneIndia that
Tejas pilots pulled 8 ‘g’ and beyond a couple of times during trials held in the
last fortnight of December.
Commodore Jaideep
Maolonkar, Chief Test Pilot at National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) and Group
Capt Rangachari, a Test Pilot of NFTC achieved this critical task taking the fighter
closer to the FOC.
Interestingly, officials at
the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
(HAL) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) were tight-lipped about this
major milestone achieved.
As reported by OneIndia
earlier, scientists and engineers are now engaged in last-minute preparations
to take Tejas for the 4th edition of Bahrain International Air Show
(BIAS-2016), being held from January 21-23 at the Sakhir Airbase. This will be
Tejas’ first official outing outside India to participate in a flying
demonstration.
Fighter
can now perform combat maneuvers: “The 8 'g' is the limit of
the flight envelope which permits aircraft to perform combat maneuvers. This
will enable the pilots to do tight turns. They have demonstrated it a couple of
times. The pilots are comfortable and aircraft behaved itself,” a source said.
As this piece goes live on
New Year’s Day, the Tejas programme has so far (from 2001) logged 3031 flights (1938
hours) with nearly 15 variants joining the programme at different stages.
Though Tejas skipped the
December 2015 deadline for attaining the FOC, the year otherwise was a
satisfying one with the first Series Production aircraft (SP1) being handed
over to IAF during early January.
“Being a weapon platform,
Tejas has to perform in extreme climatic conditions. Therefore the vigorous testing pursued at Leh
(-20deg C) and at Jaiselmer (+40deg C) concludes the aircraft can perform in almost
all weather conditions effortlessly. Very few aircraft can demonstrate such
capabilities,” claims the source.
