HANSA-New Generation (HANSA-NG) is India’s first indigenous aircraft trainer.
About HANSA-NG
- HANSA-NG is indigenously designed and developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research -National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL). It is a two-seater aircraft and a revamped version of the HANSA, which was developed 30 years ago.
- HANSA-NG is an advanced flying trainer. It is powered by Rotax Digital Control Engine. It has other special features like composite lightweight airframe, glass cockpit, bubble canopy with wide panoramic view, electrically operated flaps, etc.
- Its advantages include low cost and low consumption of fuel. Thus it is most suitable for Commercial Pilot Licensing (CPL) purposes and meets the needs of Indian flying clubs.
About National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL)
- NAL was established in 1959 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in New Delhi. It is India’s maiden aerospace research firm and also the largest.
- NAL’s main responsibility is to develop civilian aircrafts in India. It closely works with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
- NAL has special facilities like the Nilakantan Wind tunnel Centre and a computerized fatigue test facility. It also has technology to investigate into the accidents in aerospace.
Recent sea trials of HANSA-NG
- On March 5th 2022, HANSA-NG has successfully completed sea-level trials at Puducherry. On February 19th, HANSA-NG flown to Puducherry covering 140 nautical miles in 90 minutes.
- These sea-level trials were conducted to evaluate HANSA-NG’s handling qualities, climb performance, balked landing, positive and negative G, power plant and other systems performance at sea level. CSIR-NAL announced that all the objectives of trials were met.
Aircrafts like HANSA-NAL will boost India’s indigenous capacity and will help India realize the goals of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.