By Anantha Krishnan M.
India’s new Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) has successfully completed its hot weather trials at Jaisalmer.
Called Sitara, the aircraft was designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
Two aircraft are back in Bangalore after the grueling 10-day trials, sources say. “It was for the first time that the IJT undertook the hot weather trials with the AL-55I Russian engine,” a source says. The first hot weather trials were held in Nagpur in 2006 with the Snecma LARZAC engine.
The IJT had flown with the Russian-made AL-55I engine in May 2009, and all certification flight tests were completed by February 2010. “Thirty-one flights with the new engine were conducted prior to the Jaisalmer trials,” a top HAL official says.
IJT is said to have met all the technical and system performance specifications during the hot weather trials. “The environmental system air-conditioning inside the cockpit, environmental control systems, and factors for pilot comforts were checked. Representatives from the Indian Air Force’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) also participated in the trials,” a source says...............................Source
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