Pilot’s licence easy no more
A new rule aimed at improving the quality of trainee pilots has just made it a tad more difficult to earn a pilot’s licence.
In a revision to Rule 38 of Aircraft Rules 1937, brought into effect by the directorate-general of civil aviation on Monday, students appearing for commercial pilot’s licence ground training exams should either have a private pilot’s licence or 50 hours of flying experience.
They should also have taken classes from a DGCA-approved ground training institute. As a majority of the students start flying only after clearing the ground training exams, the new rule would be sending about 3,000 students (who were to appear for exams in October) scurrying into the handful of over-burdened flying schools of India in the next few weeks.
That would spell trouble, as most of the flying schools in the country are struggling with poor infrastructure.
“There are hardly any flying schools with a fleet of more than six aircraft and coupled with dearth of instructors, it takes at least 3-4 months just to log in 50 flying hours. Moreover, most of the flying schools are overbooked. So not many students will be able to give exams this October,” said a chief flying instructor.
“In short, the rule means at least 1.5 lakh flying hours needs to be logged in all, if these 3000-odd students have to do 50 flying hours and be eligible to appear for the October exams,” said a DGCA official.
DGCA K Gohain was not available for comment. Till now, the most common route to get a commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) was thus: clear the directorate general of civil aviation’s (DGCA) ground training exams first, then join a flying institute to log in 200 hours of flying and finally apply for the CPL.
“The new rule is aimed at improving the training standards as doing practicals along with theory helps in better understanding. It will also check the haste to earn a CPL and the standards of pilots will be better,” said a DGCA official.
The other problem is that a number of ground training institutes, run by pilots, including those working for airlines, are not DGCA approved.
Like ClipAir, for instance, which is run by Capt Vishesh Oberoi and Capt Kiran Patel of Jet Airways? “Though our institute is not DGCA approved, we follow the DGCA syllabus,” said Capt Patel.
The new rule though specifically says that students should train in DGCA-approved institutes. “From now, the students will have to check the credentials of the ground training institute before enrolling for classes,” said Tanmay Bhatia, a student who will be appearing for one subject in October.