The first prototype of Saras, the indigenously developed civil aircraft, on Sunday made its inaugural flight in Bangalore, with design agency National Aerospace Laboratories announcing that it had begun working on its expanded version.
Escorted by the Indian Air Force's Kiran trainer aircraft, Saras, piloted by Squadron Leader K K Venugopal and Wing Commander R S Makker, flew for about 20 minutes with about 500 kg of instrumentation.
"The flight was perfect, the weather was nice and there was no turbulence," said Venugopal.
The inaugural flight was put off last month following a minor technical glitch during a test sortie.
The "flawless" sortie was witnessed by Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Director General R A Mashelkar and top NAL and other defence scientists.
Saras Project Director K Yegna Narayan said, "Quite a lot of work has to be done to make it a commercially viable aircraft".
NAL, he said, would fit in a more powerful Canadian Pratt and Whitney engines for the second prototype, besides beginning work on a 19-seater version of Saras.
"There will be concerns and corrections. It is a learning process. We didn't have any one to fall back on," Mashelkar said
The aircraft, capable of flying up to 550 km per hour at a cruise altitude of 7.5 km, is designed to take off and land on short, semi-prepared runways.
