Having used the piston HPT-32 aircraft made by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with relative success since 1984, the Air Force is looking for a new machine that will serve as its ab initio trainer. With this in mind the Air Force has finalised the qualitative requirements for the aircraft to be manufactured by the HAL. It will use the new aircraft for pilot training and other tasks. Trainees at establishments such as the Air Force Academy in Dundigal (Andhra Pradesh) will first fly this aircraft for 65 hours before they are trifurcated into the fighter, helicopter and transport streams. Of the 65 hours, pilot trainees fly with a trainer for about 14 hours, the rest being solo. Imported engine Speaking to The Hindu Air Marshal V. R. Iyer, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, said that the new aircraft will have avionics bordering on glass cockpit (the HPT-32 has none), will be powered by a more powerful turbo prop engine (the HPT-32 is powered by a piston engine) and have an ejection seat (the HPT-32 has no such facility and cadets/pilots have to bail out). The engine will be imported. Most of the improvements will allow cadets to graduate easily from the new basic trainer to the newly inducted Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer and then onto combat aircraft, helicopters or transport planes. The Air Force expects to have the aircraft by 2013-14 and the numbers could vary between 120 and 140. Also in keeping with the Air Force’s new policy the aircraft will be acquired along with a simulator enabling cadets to take up a part of their flying training exercises on the ground, thereby saving in time and cost. Action plan Official sources in the HAL said that “an action plan for the new aircraft had been drawn up†and that a new trainer could be delivered within the timeframe envisaged by the Air Force. The HPT-32 or Deepak was developed by the HAL, replacing the two-seat HT-2 basic trainer. Though the first prototype flew in January 1977, followed by the second and third prototypes in March 1979 and July 1981, commercial production started in 1984. Also, though the Air Force’s initial requirement was for 160 HPT-32s, only around 120 were delivered. The backbone of basic training, the Air Force had a few years ago, after a series of accidents, almost declared the aircraft “too dangerous to fly solo.†The HPT-32s last crash was in May when a 21-year-old trainee pilot Geetika was killed when she was flying solo 55 km from Hyderabad. By : The Hindu
