Indigenous trainer aircraft HTT-40 makes inaugural flight

Bengaluru: Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40, India ' s indigenous basic trainer made its flight inaugural at the HAL Airport on Friday. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was present on the occasion. The two-seater aircraft designed and developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was flown by Group Captain C Subramaniam and Group Captain Venugopal for about 10 to 15 minutes. The detailed design phase of HTT-40 was launched in August 2013 with HAL ' s internal funding and was completed in May 2015. While the HTT-40 programme was almost junked during the UPA rule, Parrikar pushed both IAF and HAL to ensure the development of the trainer. Complimenting the HTT-40 squad for the accomplishment, he said, "when I came here in March 2015 the confidence they had infected me also. They had promised me within one year they will fly the aircraft. I ' m happy that they have kept the assurance." According to HAL, the team behind HTT-40 programme is "young" with an average age of 29 when it started.