First Flight: Indian-Made Saras | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-11.10.25

AirborneNextGen-
11.11.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.12.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-11.07.25

LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Mon, May 31, 2004

First Flight: Indian-Made Saras

"It Was A Good Flight"

The first Indian-built civilian aircraft made history Saturday, successfully completing its first flight with what executives at India's National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) called "a good flight."

"It went off very well," said NAL Director B. R. Pai, quoted by the Press Trust of India.

For NAL, it was a long, expensive road to the Saras' first flight. Design and construction on the aircraft began in 1991. But after India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998, the US slapped a technology ban on New Delhi, dramatically slowing development of the project.

The prototype Saras was powered by two pusher turboprop engines designed and built by Pratt & Whitney of Canada. It flew at an altitude of almost 7500 feet after taking off from HAL Airport in Bangalore. The initial flight lasted approximately 20 minutes. Officials said it averaged a speed of approximately 150 kts.

NAL hopes the Saras (named for a type of crane native to India) will fill a number of civilian roles, from cargo transport to 14-passenger commercial carrier.

FMI: www.cmmacs.ernet.in/nal/pages/saraspg/sarashm.htm

Advertisement

More News

Classic Aero-TV: Mayman Aerospace Speeder Dazzles Oshkosh Crowds

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): A Moniker Well-Chosen Founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur David Mayman and headquartered in New York City, Mayman Aerospace is the designer and manu>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Socata TBM 700

The Controller Provided The Pilot With A Low Altitude Alert And The Altimeter Setting That Was Current At The Time On October 13, 2025, at about 0815 eastern daylight time, a Socat>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.11.25): Outer Marker

Outer Marker A marker beacon at or near the glideslope intercept altitude of an ILS approach. It is keyed to transmit two dashes per second on a 400 Hz tone, which is received aura>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.11.25)

Aero Linx: Seaplane Pilots Association The Seaplane Pilots Association is the only organization in the world solely focused on representing the interests of seaplane pilots, owners>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (11.11.25)

“While business aviation is fully included in the FAA’s traffic reductions, we know that our sector will continue to pursue mandatory and voluntary means to ensure we a>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC