Hansa-NG, India’s first indigenously developed monoplane, clears a milestone by successfully completing sea level trials

Hansa-New Generation (Hansa-NG) trainer, India’s first indigenously designed and developed two-seater, glass-cockpit monoplane for flight training and personal flying, has ticked off another key milestone in its quest to secure type certification by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

Roll-out of the HANSA-NG aircraft at the Golden Jubilee Aircraft Hangar by CSIR-NAL, in Bangalore on March 31, 2021.

Hansa-New Generation (Hansa-NG) trainer, India’s first indigenously designed and developed two-seater, glass-cockpit monoplane for flight training and personal flying, has ticked off another key milestone in its quest to secure type certification by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) designed trainer has just successfully completed its sea level trials at Puducherry.

Piloted by flight test pilots Wg Cdr K.V. Prakash and Wg Cdr Dilip Reddy of the Indian Air Force’s Airborne Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bengaluru, the sea level trials at Puducherry began on February 19 and were completed on March 5. It is yet another step in CSIR-NAL’s long quest to design, develop and commercially exploit the market for two-seater trainer aircraft.

Providing details of the sea trials, officials from CSIR-NAL said that the trainer was flown to Puducherry from Bengaluru, covering a distance of 140 nautical miles in 90 minutes at a cruising speed of 155 km/hr. The objective of the sea trials were to evaluate the trainer’s handling qualities, climb and cruise performance, balked landing and structural performance, including positive and negative G-forces. The performance of the Hansa NG’s digitally controlled Rotax 912 ISC “horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine” and other systems onboard the trainer were also evaluated at sea level. Officials said all the objectives of the sea level trials were met and the aircraft was successfully ferried back to Bengaluru after completing 18 hours of flying at Puducherry.

The flight was monitored through telemetry by Flight Test Director Wg Cdr Reeju Chakraborty of the ASTE as well as by NAL’s designers.

Jitendra J. Jadhav, Director, CSIR-NAL, disclosed that the Hansa-NG had completed a total of 37 flights and 50 hours of flying and that type certification was likely to be completed by April. After the type certification, manufacturing of the aircraft will be initiated, with both public and private industry being involved. Jitendra Jadhav added that the manufacture of the Hansa-NG will enhance the Indian aerospace ecosystem under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Besides its Austrian-origin Rotax Digital Control power plant, the all-composite lightweight, general aviation monoplane has features like Just-In-Time Prepreg (JIPREG), a bubble canopy with wide panoramic view and electrically operated flaps.

NAL said that the Hansa-NG was designed to meet the needs of the Indian flying club and it is an ideal aircraft for Commercial Pilot Licensing (CPL) due to its low cost and low fuel consumption. NAL has already received more than 80 LoIs (Letter of Intents) from various flying clubs.