Aerospace Diary

AVIATION INTERNATIONAL NEWS  »  SEPTEMBER 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Despite tough times, India’s Nirma Group took delivery of an AgustaWestland GrandNew light twin outfitted in full VIP configuration. September 4, 2013, 3:10 AM Even as the presence of helicopter  OEM s doubled in India (to 10 from five), double-digit growth in its civil helicopter fleet in the seven years preceding 2011 gave way to negative growth last year when the fleet reduced from 293 to 266. High operational costs, exacerbated by a depreciated rupee that fell 35 percent in the past 40 months, are posing challenges for the industry. “It’s a cumulative result of lack of optimum utilization, safety performance, infrastructure constraints and regulatory issues,” said K. Sridharan, president of the Rotary Wing Society of India ( RWSI ). The cost-related issues of the helicopter industry range from micro to macro even as the  RWSI  has call...

Neelam Mathews Sept 3, 2012 Pawan Hans has released a tender for the purchase of two brand new (1 Pilot + minimum 1 passenger seat) Ultra Light Helicopters, (Piston Engine)  for onshore operations  mainly for training purposes. The last date for closing of bids is Sept 28. The helicopter should be fitted with Dual flight controls.It will be used mainly at a helicopter training school to train helicopter pilots who have no previous flying experience. The helicopter shall also be utilized for surveillance of oil pipelines. The range required is 175 NM ISA+20 degree centigrade at sea level.

Aviation International News » May 2012 by  Neelam Mathews Maintaining rotorcraft in India, such as this AgustaWestland AW139, is challenging since maintenance providers are not permitted to own an inventory of parts and customs duties for spares are onerous. May 3, 2012, 4:50 AM   Operators flying some 300 helicopters in India say regulatory issues are stifling an industry that has enormous potential for expansion. Suffocating restrictions, say operators, hound them at every step, starting with brutal import taxes. India’s rules require separate certification for every model type, so the lack of commonality and a mix of fleet types creates additional obstacles. For example, “Maintenance providers are not permitted to own a pool of inventory of spares, which could bring in efficiencies,” according to Sanjeev Choudhary, senior v-p of sales...

Neelam Mathews Dec 26, 2011 Pawan Hans intends to purchase brand new Basic Helicopter Simulator for its AS350 B3 Ecureuil helicopter. The revised date of closing of the technical and financial bid is Jan 16, 2012.  The bid must has been called for from original manufacturers of Helicopter Simulators. Prior to the dead line for submission of the bids, the bidder must possess a minimum in-line experience of 10 years in supply, installation, execution and after sales service of the similar project, says the RFP. The manufacturer / supplier should provide product support for atleast 15 years and confirm guaranteed supply of all spares/equipments including those from vendors, says the document. Specifications required include FNPT (Flight Navigation Procedure Training) and   FTD (Flight Training Device) .

Neelam Mathews May 3, 2011 Time posted: 6:35pm IST Following the crash of a Pawan Hans Mi-172 helicopter in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19, an expert committee formed to investigate the crash, met today at the ministry of civil aviation. The committee, which will complete its inquiry and submit a report in three months, is chaired by former Air Marshal P.P. Rajkumar. The members include Air Commodore Ravi  Krishan, a pilot and Wing Commander Rabinder Singh, an engineer- both now retired from the Border Security Force. M.J. Singh, deputy director of air safety at Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has been appointed as secretary to the committee. Dr Vipin Sharma, medical specialist from DGCA will be responsible for evaluating autoposy findings. Meanwhile, there is no news as yet of the missing AS350 B-3 helicopter of the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister. Aerospace Diary had recently questioned the possibility of the electronic locator transmitter (ELT) not fu...

EXCLUSIVE Neelam Mathews May 1, 2011, Time: 4:22pm IST With over 24 hours having passed with no news of the helicopter of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu that went missing over the densely forested hills near Tawang, questions are now being raised on the adequacy of maintenance of the electronic locator transmitter (ELT) of the Pawan Hans helicopter. The ELT gets activated on impact and transmits signals on an international distress signal that can be picked up by satellites. There are monitoring stations all around the world to pick up distress signals including two in India- Bangalore and Lucknow- and in nearby Thailand. The ELT is powered by batteries that can last upto two days. The ALT has to be serviced every month. Given the often lax attitude, the question being raised by some experts not willing to be quoted, now is, were the batteries replaced during maintenance or signed in the roster as serviced without being checked? “This is the third incident in just...