HAL & critics slugfest over continued ALH grounding

NEW DELHI: Amid the continuing grounding of 330 `Dhruv’ advanced light helicopters (ALHs) after a crash three months ago, which has hit operations in the armed forces, Hindustan Aeronautics on Friday publicly lashed out at some serving military officers, former pilots, “so-called defence analysts” and “arm-chair critics” for spreading “malicious” and “speculative” narratives on the indigenous 5.5-tonne chopper.

“These stories are written without offering HAL’s perspective, and arguments are one-sided and biased. HAL would like to reiterate it’s working with all its customers including IAF and is confident of handling the critical issues that are innate to the defence aeronautics and complex flying platforms,” the defence PSU said, in a statement.

Critics, in turn, were quick to respond and demand complete transparency on flight safety issues . “The interests of your (HAL) stakeholders are best served if you welcome criticism, work with greater transparency, stop shooting messengers and hallucinating about malafide intent. Your worst critic is not your enemy; just as a sycophant is not your best friend. Learn to differentiate,” former naval aviator and test pilot Commander K P Sanjeev Kumar (retd) said.

HAL has been facing tremendous flak in recent months due to the huge delays in production of indigenous Tejas Mark-1A fighters as well as the grounding of all the twin-engine ALHs, designed and produced by the PSU, since the crash in Porbandar on Jan 5.

As was first reported by TOI, the armed forces had immediately suspended flying operations of all their 330 ALHs after the crash, in which the two Coast Guard pilots and a diver were killed, to ensure proper safety checks. HAL is yet to conclusively establish what led to the “swashplate fracture” in the ill-fated helicopter that made the pilots lose control of the machine.