CFI Feature: Wing Commander (retd) Neel Kamal, Chimes

The CFI Feature series profiled the Chief Flying Instructors of four Indian flight schools: IGRUA, NFTI, Chimes Aviation Academy and GMR-APFT, in no particular order. The first two were managed by CAE, NFTI more so because CAE owned 49% of it. The last two were academies with more flexibility, and both offered a stand alone PPL. All of the schools except Chimes had some foreign involvement, and all were mainly Diamond Aircraft operators (DA-40 and DA-42), except Chimes, which flew Cessna 172s and a Piper Seneca IV, the only flying Seneca in the country at the time. GMR-APFT flew diesel engined Diamond DA-40s, and IGRUA was about to become a full aviation university, the first of its kind. NFTI was known for its IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme.

About the CFI

This week we focused on the CFI of Chimes Aviation Academy, who retired from the Indian Air Force as a Wing Commander after more than 22 years.

A childhood love of aircraft took him to the National Defence Academy after class XI as an Air Force cadet, and into the IAF on graduation. He was experienced on both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. A helicopter instructor in the IAF, he also logged about 1,000 hours on fixed wing types, the HJT-16 Kiran and the HPT-32 Deepak. That mix made this interview special. With more than 5,600 flying hours, Neel Kamal was Chief Flying Instructor at Chimes Aviation Academy, Dhana, Madhya Pradesh.

1. What traits must a flight instructor show?

The highest standards of discipline, in the air and on the ground, mature behaviour and skill. An instructor also needed a lot of patience and some understanding of human psychology. A student saw his instructor as a mentor and a hero and copied his example, so the instructor had to set the right one. Many people were drawn to aviation because it looked glamorous, but it demanded hard work and strict discipline, and the instructor had to instil that. Short cuts did not work in aviation.

2. Are there natural, born instructors, or can anyone learn it?

As in any field, some people were born instructors, and a flair for it helped. A good pilot did not automatically make a good instructor. But those without the gift could still become good instructors with some extra effort.

3. The move to fixed wing: how and why?

In the Air Force he mainly flew helicopters and loved it. It took him to places he would never otherwise have seen, and it sharpened his natural flying skills because helicopters often operated in remote areas with little or no radio and navigation aids. He did not want to spoil that experience after leaving the service, and wanted to do something different. Since he already had close to 1,000 fixed wing hours as an instructor, he chose fixed wing so he could operate from more organised places.

4. Does rotary experience affect fixed wing flying?

There were differences, but the basic skills were the same, and what was learnt on helicopters helped. For example, the weather knowledge and forecasting sense built up flying helicopters helped in judging weather on fixed wing aircraft too.

5. Which is easier, and which is more fun?

Helicopters were inherently unstable while fixed wing aircraft were stable by design, so a helicopter was harder to learn. After the initial learning, both were the same. Both were fun if you enjoyed flying. He had his fun on helicopters in the Air Force and was now having it on fixed wing.

6. The challenges of each type?

Helicopters usually worked in remote areas because they could land in small spaces. Those areas had poor communication and navigation facilities and often bad weather, and that was the main challenge of rotary flying. For fixed wing aircraft, higher speeds and the need to land on a runway made landing in bad weather or poor visibility the biggest challenge.

7. Your take on General Aviation in India?

There was a lot of scope to expand GA. He had met people who wanted to learn to fly and own aircraft but were put off by two things: a lack of infrastructure, and the rules. Poor infrastructure made it expensive and difficult even to park an aircraft at an airport, let alone fly it. The rules were not user friendly, and there were too many of them to understand easily.

8. Your opinion on fixed wing flying training in the country?

The aviation boom had drawn all sorts into flying training. Some were serious players with good intentions, and some came to cash in on the sudden demand for pilots. The downturn shook things up. Current policies and falling student numbers made it hard for schools to survive. Even so, some Indian schools now trained better than many schools abroad, and he could say that because he had flown with many young pilots trained overseas.

9. If you could change one thing in Indian aviation?

In India aviation was treated as something for the elite and the rich. That showed in policy and in the mindset of those who joined. It had to change for aviation to grow.

Note: the CFI's views were personal and did not necessarily reflect those of the flight school.