India's national pride and the second prototype of Saras, India's first indigenously designed civilian plane, crashed during a test flight on Friday killing all the three crew members on board at Bidadi near here in a "setback" to the project.
The NAL-built small prototype aircraft crashlanded in an open area at Sheshagirihalli at 3.45 PM and burst into flames. Charred bodies of Wing Commander Praveen, Wing Commander Shah and Squadron Leader Ilayaraja were retrieved from the wreckage of the aircraft which was completely destroyed in the accident. All the three crew members were experienced persons drawn from Air Force.
Saras is a twin turboprop powered multi-role aircraft. It is designed to take-off and land on short semi-prepared runways. Saras is capable of flying upto a maximum speed of 550 Km/ hour at a cruise altitude of 7.5 km.
According to an eye witnesses, people around the spot, where the incident took place, heard a loud sound and saw the air craft coming down. It fell on a vacant plot and burst into flames. The pieces of the charred aircraft were strewn around the area.
The army, police and the fire brigade are at the spot with a rescue chopper from the HAL.
This aircraft was second prototype of Saras and was on its test flight schedule.
The aircraft crash-landed near Bidadi. It is too early to say the reason for the crash of saras. The aircraft, which is eight to 14-seater, was on its 49th test flight.
This will create a major impact on the saras project.
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