Bangalore: Has last November's crash of a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) following the loss of tail rotor control put Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.'s (HAL's) pet project into reverse gear?

Technicians from HAL's Helicopter Division are still busy replacing the composite tail rotors of the 64 existing ALHs. Re-tooling for the new sets of blades had to be done, and with the new blades being put through the scanner at every stage to check for possible faults, the rejection rate has also gone up, resulting in time overruns.

This has affected the rollout of new Dhruvs, just three having been rolled out since the start of the 2006-07 financial year.

And even providing for an increased rollout during the last financial quarter, it is evident that HAL is unlikely to meet the target of 20 (revised from 28 after the crash) Dhruvs by the end of March 2007.

As per the recommendations of the Technical Board of Investigation that went into the causes of the crash, HAL has begun replacing the existing tail rotors with an improved `600 series' rotor blade made under "greater quality control, and with better and fresh resin." However, technicians have been able to refit only 32 Dhruvs. An equal number is still grounded awaiting new composite tail rotors.

The November crash has also resulted in action against some senior officers.

A general manager and three deputy general managers from HAL's Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) were prima facie held responsible for the failure of the tail rotor, an inquiry was initiated against them and, pending the findings, taken off the ALH project. While the general manger has since resigned, one of the deputy general mangers has put in his papers.

According to the findings of the inquiry, the life of the resin/hardener that was used in the manufacture of the tail rotor had expired and caused the composite material to delaminate.

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