Indian military grounds entire fleet of Advanced Light Helicopter after fatal crash-OxBig News Network

A week after the Coast Guard Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed, the entire fleet of 330 copters across the armed forces has been ordered to remain grounded — or not fly — till the cause of the crash is identified and remedial measures, if any, are carried out.

The crash occurred on January 5 in Gujarat’s Porbandar on January 5 that killed three Coast Guard personnel.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), manufacturer of ALH, has told all operators of the ALH to ground their aircraft until the root cause of the recent crash is determined. Besides, the 330 copters with the forces — Indian Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard – some private operators also fly the copter.

Sources said the preliminary analysis of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of the crashed copter indicates that the pilots lost control of the helicopter three to four seconds before the crash. The exact cause of the crash is still being investigated.

A team of HAL has been assessing the cause of Sunday’s crash and its finding are still inconclusive to suggest remedial measures. “The report will trigger action on what all would need to be done on the ALH fleet,” a source said.

This is second major issue with ALH in the past 15 months or so. In October 2023, the Ministry of Defence grounded the entire fleet and ordered a one-time check. This check was ordered after five Army men had died in a crash near Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh.

The grounding of the entire ALH fleet is a significant setback for the Indian armed forces, which rely heavily on these helicopters for various missions, including search and rescue, casualty evacuation, and troop transport.

The check was for mechanical and technical “stress points” on the entire fleet, and this included engines, rotor-blades and ‘collective’ control rods (a component that controls power from engine to both the rotors, one on top of copter and other at the tail).

In mid-2024, HAL initiated an upgrade to improve airworthiness. This led to the replacement of the ‘collective’ control rods.

Sunday’s crash was the second fatal crash for the Coast Guard’s ALH fleet in four months. Three of the four personnel on board a copter had died in a crash in September last year. The copter crashed into the Arabian Sea some 45 km off Porbandar while carrying out a medical evacuation mission from an Indian merchant vessel, MV Hari Leela.

ALH is a versatile, twin-engine utility helicopter designed for both military and civilian roles. It has been in service since 2002 and is widely used by the Indian armed forces for carrying supplies in the Himalayas, medical evacuation, transporting troops, search and rescue, evacuation, reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare.