Route to the Cockpit

As long as the Indian skies are not populated with sufficient general aviation aircraft, the training status of aspirant airline pilots can be safeguarded either by large flying training institutes such as IGRUA or by following the MPL route

Mishandling of a landing in 2011 by a co-pilot of an airliner brought pilot training in civil aviation in India into focus. It also led to the exposure of dubious methods adopted by some in connivance with flying schools and obliging officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to find an easy route to highly-paid jobs as airline pilots, and subverting the system in the process.

Licence to Fly

All over the world, regulatory systems have almost similar licensing requirements. A pilot aspirant first obtains a Student Pilot Licence (SPL) to commence training. Thereafter, with 40 hours of flying experience, he gains a Private Pilot Licence (PPL) which allows him to captain an aircraft without passengers. The next step is Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) with 200 hours flying experience. A CPL allows a pilot to carry passengers. This is the bare minimum experience and qualification for entry into an airliner cockpit as a pilot.

In the West, general aviation is well developed with thousands of small aircraft operating in this category. CPL holders employed initially in general aviation, move to airlines after 1,500 hours of flying.. Thus pilots flying an airliner in the West would generally have a minimum flying experience of 1,500 hours. In India it is different.

Training for Civil Aviation

In India, growth of civil aviation was centred around its state-owned carriers: Air India and Indian Airlines. Training for civil pilots was provided by flying clubs run by state governments. These were small establishments meant to train only for PPL but in fact trained pilots up to CPL as well. As there were virtually no general aviation aircraft in the country, CPL holders went directly to the state-owned airlines.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, an Indian Airlines pilot, realised that flying clubs lacked professional institutionalised training and good aircraft. Thus, he along with Captain Satish Sharma, conceptualised a government-run institution that would impart quality flying training for entry into airlines. This led to the birth of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) in 1986 at Fursatganj, Rae Bareli, in Uttar Pradesh. IGRUA was provided the Trinidad TB-20, the best and the only basic trainer aircraft then to have an auto-pilot and retractable undercarriage. These were purchased along with simulators. For multi-engine experience, essential for an aspiring airline pilot, two state-of-the-art Beechcraft King Air C90A, along with full-motion simulator, unheard of for training aircraft in those days, were acquired. IGRUA trained 20 pilots every year which was sufficient for the national carriers. Soon, IGRUA blossomed into an excellent flying training institution with selected trainees, good residential and training infrastructure and competent staff. The national carriers preferred IGRUA as their recruitment platform.

Boom in Aviation

Around 2005, with the emergence of new carriers, the demand for pilots grew manifold. However, as the limited capacity of IGRUA could not be expanded quickly to meet the rapidly growing demand, pilot aspirants went abroad in large numbers to obtain CPL Also, flying clubs mushroomed in the country to cash in on the opportunity. However, very soon, the bubble burst and today, there are around 3,000 CPL holders who are unemployed.

State of Flying Schools

To understand what went wrong, let us look closely at the state of the flying clubs. Most of these have only three to four single-engine aircraft. There is acute shortage of Chief Flying Instructors in the country and knowledge base of instructors at these schools is suspect. Trainees generally number 10-15; there is no ground school, no Air Traffic Control (ATC), no dedicated airspace, no simulators, no landing/navigational aids and some operate in uncontrolled airspace.

The atmosphere resembles coaching centres with inmates sporting temporary/contractual/commercial demeanour with overpowering desire to make money. As aircraft are few, the management can ill-afford a mishap. Therefore, trainees never get to fly solo. A safety pilot always on board , yet the sortie is logged as solo. Confidence and quality become casualties and civil aviation suffers.

Is the flying club business model financially fatal? It would appear so. Competition forces a low fee structure. Clubs housed at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) airfields face high rentals. Price of fuel continues to climb. As if these are not stifling enough, a service tax burden has been imposed with retrospective effect. Only a very large organisation relying on high volumes and government support can produce a sustainable financial model. With finances failing, short-cuts, cheating and scams all surfaced and that is what hit the headlines some time ago.

IGRUA–An Exception

What then makes IGRUA tick? It conducts a national entrance examination annually at five major cities. The examination has three steps—a written test, an interview and a ‘go/no go’ pilot aptitude test. This ensures that only the trainable with pilot aptitude and attitudinally endowed are enrolled. It has its own airfield, three hangars, ATC, fire services, fuel farm, electrical back-up, runway lights, VOR/DME, ILS, its own airspace and a flight-line of 25 aircraft, including two multiengine aircraft. The fleet has 16 glass-cockpit equipped DA 40 and 42 aircraft from Diamond of Canada. In addition, it has five older French Socata TB-20 and four Zlin aircraft of Czech origin. All these are backed by simulators. IGRUA currently has 20 flying instructors on its roll, a mix of ex-Indian Air Force and civilian instructors. It has a well-equipped ground school with five instructors who conduct 450 hours of classroom training up to ATPL level. The hostel can accommodate up to 250 trainees including 40 girls housed separately. Sports facilities include a football field, two squash courts, two indoor badminton courts, a gymnasium, two volleyball courts and cricket ground. In addition, table tennis and billiards are also provided. The construction of a swimming pool and an auditorium is under way. The entire Akademi is networked through fibre-optic lines. Under CAE management, IGRUA is a part of its global CAE Oxford Aviation Academy network. As such, professional, learning material abound. Not for nothing has IGRUA earned the epithet of being the ‘IIT/IIM of Aviation’.