DGCA ’ s CAR-21 regulations ground Saras in NAL hangar

The new civil aviation
requirement (CAR-21) regulations of
the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA), has become a stumbling block
to India’ s first multi-purpose civilian aircraft programme, Saras.
The Saras programme, which suffered
a serious setback following a tragic
crash last year, is now awaiting the
aviation regulator to complete its
audit, based on the CAR-21 regulations at the Bangalore-based
National Aerospace Laboratories
(NAL) which is the designer of the
aircraft.
MS Chidananda, head of NAL ’ s Centre for Civil Aircraft Design and
Development said that until DGCA
completes its audit based on the
CAR-21 regulations it would not be
able to go ahead with the project
which has already overshot its deadline for the aircraft certification.

“ The CAR-21 has superseded an old regulation and the DGCA has asked us
not to go ahead with the projects until
an audit has been completed,” said Chidananda.
He said that the delay caused due to
the imposition of the new regulation
will further delay the project especially
with regard to the development of the
third prototype (P3) of the Saras aircraft.