Flight training: A challenge in civil aviation

India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world and the biggest challenge facing the industry is the availability of trained technical manpower: Pilots, engineers and technicians. The situation is going to worsen when more pilots will be required to pilot the Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Vehicles (eVTOLs) which are going to enter the market in the next year or two.

This situation has come about only because of the lack of planning by the authorities concerned. Now a situation exists where young hopefuls are proceeding to even countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bosnia, Montenegro and Philippines for flying training. Of every 1,000 commercial pilots licence issued by the directorate of civil aviation (DGCA), 700 candidates would have undergone their training outside India.

India with its vast geographical area and excellent weather conditions conducive for flight training should, in fact, be the prime destination for flying training for the world. In fact, in the eighties and nineties, trainees from countries like Iran, Jordan, Palestine, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and several other African nations used to come to India for flight training. But now the tables have been turned and our nationals are proceeding to some of these countries for training. The slow pace of training and the long and cumbersome process for foreign nationals to obtain the necessary security clearances has resulted in foreign nationals avoiding India altogether. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have established world class flight training centres and nationals from other Arab nations are mostly proceeding to flight schools in United States (UK), Canada, European nations and even the United Kingdom where the weather conditions are not at all conducive for primary flight training.

One of the main reasons for this situation is the many restrictive policies put in place by the regulatory authorities themselves. For example, the DGCA grants permission to a prospective flight school owner to commence operations only if he/she has a minimum number of aircraft and also a minimum paid up capital as stipulated by them. In addition, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) requires a paid-up capital of another amount. Whereas meeting these requirements doesn’t guarantee the quality of instruction imparted in a flight school, it is enough to prevent many an entrepreneur who may have all the other capabilities to operate a flight school from ever being able to start. In contrast is an Indian entrepreneur in New Zealand who started a flight school there with a single rented aeroplane and who now has a fleet of more than 20 airplanes and has now become a prime destination for students from India.

Another major hurdle is the lack of trainer aircraft. In the seventies, Prof. David Hazen of Princeton University who was invited by the government of India to set up the first aeronautical department at IIT, Kanpur had laid out a road map for India to be self-reliant in this field. But, we have not made enough progress on this. The DGCA developed a light aircraft Swati, which was manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), but it met with an accident which killed the test pilot and this ended the project. Another trainer, the Hansa developed by the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) also was rejected by almost all flight schools in the country. A major factor in the success of a trainer aircraft, apart from performance and cost of operation is “crash worthiness”—simply put, what are the chances of someone surviving an accident in it. Therefore, it is worthwhile to compare the two aircraft mentioned above, the Swati and the Hansa with the Pushpak which was manufactured much earlier, in the fifties; 160 of them were manufactured by HAL and it served the country well for 50-odd years with an excellent safety record, and the Indian government even gifted one each to Singapore and Malaysia in 1968 to help them start flight training. It is interesting to note that both of these Pushpaks are still flying. The success of the Pushpak can be attributed to the fact that it was a straight copy of the highly successful Aeronca Chief produced in the US. NAL had developed another version of the Hansa called the next generation (NG) Hansa, which was displayed at the Wings India airshow in 2020, but production is yet to begin even after four years. Even if steps are taken now to kickstart this project, it will take a few years to set up the required infrastructure.

The shortage of trainer aircraft is, however, not confined to India alone. Both the major manufacturers, namely the Cessna and Piper Aircraft Corporation had slowed down on their production as they did not anticipate such a huge demand, and are now not able to meet the global demand. Other countries have solved this problem by adopting Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) for training. Special LSAs which are equipped with very sophisticated navigation aids are now used in the US and European Union for flight training of commercial pilots. They also have lower operating costs and better emission standards than other aircraft. But, flight schools in India are not allowed to use them for flight training towards a commercial pilots’ licence. Whereas pilots who were trained in the Pushpak which only had a magnetic compass as the navigation instrument have gone on to fly the most sophisticated aircraft in the world like the Boeing 777 and the Airbus is no LSA which has very sophisticated navigation aids, fit for flight training. Permitting LSAs for flight training will not only solve the problems associated with the shortage of aircraft, but will also encourage manufacturers of LSAs to set up their production facilities in India, which will generate employment and foreign direct investment.

Adding to the problem is the lack of experienced flight instructors. The rapid expansion of both Indigo and Air India have resulted in most instructors quitting flight instruction and joining the airlines for better career prospects, social recognition and financial rewards. The high rate of attrition has resulted in an ongoing situation where instructors with less experience are teaching students to fly. At most other professional training establishments, teachers have spent years in the industry. In Indian civil aviation, this is often not the case. The results are now there for all to see. Many countries like the US permit airline pilots to impart primary flight training during their spare time. One can imagine the benefit to the trainees when he or she receives training from an experienced airline pilot, and the safety associated with it.

Unless proactive measures are taken on an urgent basis, we are going to be reliant on other nations to meet our growing needs in the civil aviation sector.

This article is authored by S Sabu, flight instructor, pilot, Jazeera Airways, Kuwait and member of the royal aeronautical society.