In an embarrassing turn of events for Aero India 2007 mascot HAL, one of its Intermediate Jet Trainers (IJT) skidded off the runway this afternoon. A tyre had burst during the take-off roll.

A HAL team is currently investigating the accident, though initial reports have revealed a possible fault in the oleo strut shock absorber, a component in the aircraft’s landing gear.

HAL’s chief test pilot Sqn Ldr Baldev Singh, who was piloting the trainer, is safe.

The trainer, which speeded up at 3.10PM, came to shuddering halt in a cloud of dust and smoke at the end of the runway a few minutes later. The flight was slated to be a seven-minute demonstration sortie.

There are currently two HAL-built IJT prototypes, which have clocked a total of 330 test flights. Both have flown without incident over the past two days for the show. And both flew at the inaugural ceremony fly-past on Wednesday in a slow-pass sortie with an HAL-built Dhruv helicopter and two indigenously manufactured Sukhoi-30MKI fighters.

When ready, the tandem seat trainer called the IJT-Sitara, will replace the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Kiran Mk-II trainers. The latter have collectively rea-

ched the end of their total technical life.

After being sanctioned by the government in July 1999, metal cutting on the fast-track project began in July 2001 and the aircraft flew for the first time in March 2003. The IJT is one of HAL's shortest projects so far - 44 months from the time the project was sanctioned till the first flight.

... contd.