Saras crash report out; DGCA slams NAL, ASTE

DGCA probe report into the Saras (above) crash is very critical on many fronts. Photo: NAL

By Anantha Krishnan M.
Aviation Week

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), that probed into the cause of the 14-seater Saras prototype crash during a test flight on March 6, 2009, has come out with a comprehensive report. Aviation Week, which accessed the 75-page findings released on Thursday (April 22, 2020), has made many startling revelations and also came down heavily on its makers -- the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) -- and the flight test unit -- the Aircraft System and Testing Establishment (ASTE) -- an elite wing of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Saras PT-2 crashed at Seshagirihalli near Bangalore and had claimed the lives of two pilots and a fight test engineer. Though the report has ruled out the possibilities of the crash due to poor maintenance, inclement weather, fitness of pilots and pre-impact fire, it was critical on the part of NAL for having flown the aircraft on all the five days of Aero India-2009, without taking the mandatory DGCA permission.

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