With recent cases of fake CPL holders coming up, my take on commercial pilot training-
For a long time, flying was an exclusive arena in India. Commercial flying as a career option was also a far cry for most of the aspiring students. Feasible or not, it was a professional field always less talked about. However in past decade or so, commercial flying has taken everybody by storm. As India is an growing economy the need to be able to travel by flights has increased tremendously. With India being the second most populous country in the world the demand for pilot trainers as well as pilots in this country is extremely high. Suddenly there was surge in number of airlines and dearth of qualified pilots. Notwithstanding the attraction of IT and MBA and working with an MNC, flying has its own charm which attract people from every walk of life. Right from the graduates to even air hosts and hostess who started enrolling themselves to become a pilot, if not for anything else but for the attractive pay package.
Pilot training in India is not just a academic exercise; it involves high level of on ground studies and a good amount of flying experience of get your commercial pilot license, i.e. CPL. Around 40 hours of least amount of flying experience is needed to attain the private pilot license, which differs in a large amount if you require a commercial pilot license. Also unlike many other countries, the rules defined for becoming a commercial pilot in India are far more stringent.
Commercial flying is a highly focused job which requires gen of air navigation, understanding of meteorological reports, operations of sophisticated electronic and mechanical controls, leading the aircraft under hostile circumstances, and being a lead to the flight crew and passengers under climatic and other emergency situations. Thus an aspiring pilot should possess good psychomotor skills, good hand to eye coordination, keen sense of observation and judgement, confidence in his approach to do things, good leadership qualities, keen mind to learn, understand and retain what is taught.
The schools which provide flying training are pivotal to any pilot’s life because they provide the entire training and the necessary skills that are needed to fly an aircraft which may include proper direction and control, understanding weather forecasting, etc. To impart flying training, today there are scores of private and government owned flying schools under the recognition of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), spread across the country. Among them some of the noteworthy are – Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) in Fursatganj, Uttar Pradesh, Chimes Aviation Academy, in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Yash Air, in Indore Madhya Pradesh, Nagpur Flying Club, in Nagpur, Maharashtra, HAL Rotary Wing Academy in Bangalore, Karnataka among many other.
However what most people don’t perceive is the fact that these flying institutions vary a great degree in their standards and infrastructure. While the basic requirement could be an exclusive airfield for the institution, there are many details which can make a lot of difference in a flying student’s career. As Gp Capt (Retd) Karl Bhesania, Flying Instructor with the IGRUA explains, “There are many basic infrastructure requirements which are often unheeded. A flying institution at any level should have well trained flying and ground instructors, good training facilities like simulators, computers, aviation library, well maintained aircraft, adequate pupil grooming, commercial and airlines training and the most important of all - job placement after completion of the course”.
However going beyond such qualitative requirements there are many other minute details which should be looked into. For example, while most of the prestigious flying institutes have their own runway and airspace they lack of advance infrastructure, like VOR, which provides controlled airfield environment and provides an airspace elevation up to 4000ft, compared to mere 5 nautical miles airspace defined by DGCA in an uncontrolled airfield. Similarly airfields should possess other navigational aids such as DME, ILS and PAPI.
Another obviously important but often overlooked infrastructure are the aircrafts. It’s important to consider the fact that any aspiring commercial pilot is bound to fly modern and contemporary aircrafts like Airbus A-330 and Boeing 737-800 in his or her span of career, in contrast to older generation aircrafts which most of the flying clubs still possess and train their students on. Current generation aircrafts have glass cockpits, which have an entirely digital flying deck. To give an idea, IGRUA at Fursatganj, make use of latest generation Diamond DA-40 aircrafts. Similarly Chimes Aviation Academy, in Sagar, trains their students in Cessna 172R aircrafts, both of which possess a glass cockpit. Thus training aircrafts should have a glass cockpit to provide up to date and hands on flying experience for the students.
Though not a very crucial aspect, the type of training aircrafts also do make a difference, especially so when it comes to multi engine certification. Most of the flying institutes make use of the most smallest and the efficient multi engine aircrafts they can find, however some, like IGRUA do impart training in heavier class aircrafts like Beechcraft C-90A.
Nonetheless at the end of the day, it’s the placements which make the end difference. Contrary to what is advertised, placements in flying sectors are still less organised in India. As Gp Capt (Retd) MK Devnath, who has served as CFI and Flying Instructors in some of the prestigious flying institutes, states, “There is no doubt in the fact that flying schools in India, are among the best in the world, however lack of coordination with airlines and insufficient experience creates a problem of placements. Even the best of the best institutions find it difficult to have 100% placement, especially more so in post-recession years”.
In India a course for obtaining a CPL will cost about Rs. 26 lakh approximately, which includes 190 hrs Single Engine + 10 hrs Multi Engine flying. India currently produces a very large number of pilots in the country. Some of these have done their flying training courses abroad where as others have done it through pilot training institutions in the country itself. Pilot training in India has surely come a long way; however it’s still a nascent stage at best. As Gp Capt (Retd.) Bhesania remarks, “The current status of flying training can definitely be improved. Schools which lack training facilities like simulators, computers assisted teaching, nav aids/ infrastructure should invest in it. Training would be better served if airlines would also participate in the later stages to align the orientation of the pupil/cadet towards commercial/ airlines aviation”.
