HAL LUH Clears high weather conditions trials in the Himalayas

HAL designed and developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) successfully demonstrated high altitude capability in hot and high weather conditions in the Himalayas. The trials were carried out by the test pilots from HAL, IAF and the Army from 24 August to 2 September 2019, a statement released by the defence PSU, HAL, said.

The test represents a significant moment for the defence PSU with the LUH having successfully carried out the high altitude tests at the Daulat Beg Olde in northern Ladakh, considered the world’s highest landing ground.“The LUH has complied with all the requirements of the users and with the completion of hot and high altitude testing, it is close to operational clearance certification,” R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, said on the occasion.

“All planned tests were successfully demonstrated. A comprehensive test plan was executed at Leh (3300 metre) in temperatures up to International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) +32-degree C which included envelope expansion, performance and flying qualities. The LUH then lifted off from Leh and demonstrated its hot and high hover performance at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at 5000m followed by another forward helipad (5500m at ISA +27degree C). While these extreme weather conditions imposed flight restrictions on all other civil and military aircraft, LUH flights were unhindered as it is designed for such operations,” the statement released by the PSU said.

According to HAL, the helicopter embarked on a 3000km flight from Bengaluru to Leh over a period of three days traversing many civil and military airfields. During the course of ferrying and trials at high altitude, the chopper revealed high reliability without any service support.

The composite trials team included designers, flight test crew of HAL, the Indian Air Force and Indian Army. Representatives of CEMILAC and ORDAQA witnessed the trials for military and civil certification requirements, respectively.

The flights were completed by an HAL flight test team led by Wg Cdr Unni Pillai (Retd), CTP(RW) and accompanied by Wg Cdr Anil Bhambani (Retd), Gp Capt. Pupinder Singh (Retd), Gp Capt. V Panwar, Wg Cdr A. Jena, a representative from the Air Force Gp Capt R Dubey and Lt Col R Grewal from the Indian Army.

The LUH completed hot weather trials at Nagpur in 2018, cold weather trials at Leh in 2019, sea level trials at Chennai in 2018 and at Puducherry in 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:- Force Net