The cold weather trials of light combat helicopter (LCH) were carried out at Air Force Station, Leh recently. “The trials covered engine starts with internal batteries after overnight cold soak at 3 km altitude and 4.1 km altitude”, said T. Suvarna Raju, Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The engine starts were satisfactory in the temperature of minus 18 degree Celsius at 4.1 km. The flights were also carried out to assess high altitude performance and low speed handling.

The LCH prototype, TD-2, was ferried from Bengaluru to Leh and the flight trials were carried out involving customer pilots from Air Force and Army and with the participation of representatives from RCMA (H/c) and DGAQA (H/c).

“LCH Technology Demonstrator TD-3 made its maiden flight in November last year and the TD-4 is likely to fly soon. The initial operational clearance (IOC) is expected in the later part of this year and to achieve this we are concentrating on building more prototypes and increase the number of flights to reduce the lead time for IOC”, adds Raju.

The second and third prototypes had their first flight in June 2011 and November 2014. The forth prototype is currently being built to speed up the trials for certification process.