The second photo shows pilots of the Escuadrón de Combate 2212 (2211th Combat Squadron), which operates the Dhruv at Guayaquil. The unit emblem is the Cobra, which is why the Dhruvs have cobras painted on their noses, with “Cobra” written in Devnagri script just above, as was first noticed during Aero India 2009. In the middle photo, the man on extreme right is Luis Armas, the pilot of the ill-fated Dhruv (thanks one of our anon commenters for pointing this out!).
hey, thats my pic.
Hey Shiv. Seems like you had all these pics for quite some time. Had the 604 not crashed, we would never have seen these pics.
I must say this crash has been a good thing for us Dhruv fans. No one died, and we get tons of pics 🙂
THe Ecuadorian press is printing all sorts of bullshits now. In the link provided they have reported that the helicopters were not fitted with Oxygen masks and they have cast doubts on the helicopters service ceilings.
It seems one of the pilot had informed his relative that thee was engine failure.
http://ww1.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=313732&id_seccion=4
I am amused on reading all these articles posted here after the crash. But all credits to Shiv for posting these photos. Having worked on this project I dont find anything on this helicopter that is amazing given the design and the shoddy manufacturing facilities. No I am not a traitor….. but some things dont change in HAL a typical govt organization. and mark my words this project will die a natural death in the coming years and the same with LCA. And please dont brag about the abilities of this helicopter. Ask someone who has worked on this project or the pilots to get accurate info not just the brochures.