Indian-made Dhruv advanced light helicopters have run into trouble with Ecuador — which bought seven helicopters — having restricted flying operations of these choppers after two of them crashed and two others suffered accidents in the past one month. Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl), the manufacturers of these helicopters, has rushed a team of engineers to find out the cause behind the mishaps.
The Ecuador Air Force had bought seven helicopters from HAl in 2009 for a total price of $45 million. Two helicopters crashed in 2009 and 2014 while two others met with accidents in the last one month forcing Ecuador to go in for “restricted” operations for the remaining ones. “Three aircraft have had their operations restricted because they are undergoing a complete check,” Ecuador Security Minister Cesar Navas was quoted as saying by El Universo newspaper after the accident on January 27.
The restricted flying order came following Dhruv helicopter FAE 605 reportedly catching fire in Ecuador’s Amazon region on January 27 after taking off from a military base in Tena, according to local media. Two people were injured in the mishap. Incidentally, this mishap occurred at a time when an Indian team was already there to probe the incident that took place on January 13. “Our team is already there to investigate what has happened. The incident happened during the training,” HAl Chairman RK Tyagi said referring to the January 13 accident.
HAl, meanwhile, sent one of its General Manager (Repairs and Maintenance), to Ecuador following the second accident, officials said here on Friday adding the joint probe team will investigate all angles including technical and human error. A major accident took place in February 2014 when a Dhruv, assigned to the Air Force and sometimes used to transport President Rafael Correa, crashed on a flight from Guayaquil to Quito, killing three of its four crew members. Earlier in October 2009, one helicopter crashed while making a low pass during a military ceremony in Quito, injuring the pilot and co-pilot.
The indigenous helicopters were inducted into all the three Services including Army, IAF and Navy in 2002. HAl has since then exported these helicopters for civil and military use to countries including Maldives, Mauritius and Nepal. However, the recent spate of crashes could raise a question mark about the reliability of Indian military hardware at a time when the new Government is keen to push ‘Make in India’ defence products in the international market.
