Top HAL official commits suicide

Squadron Leader Baldev Singh was one of Indias foremost test pilots

Squadron Leader Baldev Singh,one of Indias foremost test pilots and a director for corporate planning and marketing at the public sector aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) since August 16 this year,committed suicide on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old former chief test pilot of HAL who has been an integral part of the over one-decade-old,dogged process of development of an indigenous Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT or HJT 36) hung himself with his turban just outside Nandi Hills,a tourist destination 50 km from Bangalore.

The former Indian Air Force MiG-21 pilot drove himself to Nandi Hills in his official car after sending his driver away midway,said Dr T D Pawar,the Superintendent of Police for Chikaballapur district. Police said the reason for the suicide was not known and no suicide note was found. Sources close to Singh hinted at possible work-related depression as a cause for the extreme step.

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Former HAL associates of the pilot said Singh,or Baldy as he was affectionately known,gave up his love for flying barely two months ago to take up corporate responsibility at HAL,with which he had been associated since 1986.

Singh,who was also the acting managing director of the Bangalore complex of HAL,earlier held the position of executive director (flight operations) and chief test pilot (fixed wing) at HALs Bangalore complex.

Commissioned into the IAF in June 1973 as a fighter pilot,Singh had a total flight test experience of over 6,000 hours on 55 different types of aircraft,including the Hunter,MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft,said a HAL note issued when Singh was appointed a corporate director in August.

Squadron Leader Baldev Singh loved flying and took up his corporate role rather reluctantly. He could have easily been the managing director of the Bangalore complex long ago but he did not push his case since that would have meant giving up flying, a former HAL official said.

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In the mid 1980s when he underwent the experimental test pilots course at ASTE in Bangalore,Singh was awarded the Suranjandas Trophy for being the best all-round test pilot and the Chief of the Air Staffs Trophy for being the best in flight test evaluation.

Prior to joining the now struggling IJT programme with which he had in recent times become synonymous,including a famous failure of the aircraft at the Aero India show in 2007 Singh had been a part of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft programme that is now in the production phase. He was a thorough gentleman,very steady with the right degree of modesty and humility. As a youngster,he was professionally committed and hard working. Baldy always had his thinking cap on, Wing Commander Kukke Suresh,a former IAF colleague of Squadron Leader Singh said.