Bangalore: Saras, the home-grown civilian aircraft, made its second successful flight for 20 minutes over the Bangalore skies this afternoon (Jun 7, 2004).

The first prototype, flown by Sqdn Ldr K K Venugopal and Wg Commander R Makhar from the HAL airport here, took off at 13:45 hours (IST) flanked by two Kiran aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) before landing safely at 14:05 hrs.

"It was a good flight," National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) Director B R Pai said soon after the yellow-coloured turboprop aircraft touched the base.

The test pilots of the IAF's Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) had flown Saras, named after the Indian crane, on its maiden sortie on May 29.

The prototype, powered by two Canadian Pratt and Whitney engines, now weighs 5,118 kg, about 900 kg heavier than its desired empty weight of 4,125 kg and was equipped with five seats.

Saras reached a speed of 138 nautical miles and flew at an altitude of about 8,000 feet on its first flight, which Venugopal had termed as "like driving a Mercedes car".

The Bangalore-based NAL, a CSIR lab, began work on the 14-seater multi-role Saras in 1991. But the Rs 139 crore project hit air pockets due to the denial of critical components following US sanctions imposed in the wake of the Pokhran nuclear blasts in 1998, which later was revived in 2001 with a cost escalation of 20 per cent.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to witness the official inaugural flight of Saras later this month.