Project Airbus Tech (PAT) is just 5 chapters away from covering the entire Airbus A320. PAT has been extremely useful for pilots who have needed a technical refresher, a review before sims, those headed for the type rating, and has also been useful to those who have appeared for their Command interview. PAT has never failed to help Airbus A320 pilots who have seeked help on the airplane’s systems. CLICK HERE to access PAT.

Even more interesting is the man behind PAT’s execution: Sushank Gupta. Sushank was one among 20 IGRUANs who appeared for the written test conducted by CAE for the “CAE-IndiGo assessment A320 Type Rating Program”. The test was conducted over 3 days, between the 16th and the 18th of April 2012. Sushank appeared on the 16th, and that was when the Flying Engineer met Sushank for the first time at Bangalore.

Having cleared the written, the interview was finally conducted, after a year and four months of the written, on the 16th of August, 2013. On the 8th of September, 2013, Sushank was sent an email from IndiGo informing him having successfully cleared the interview , and the hard copy of the Letter Of Intent having been dispatched by IndiGo.

Sushank is on his way to an approximately 10 week long type rating program, which will be held either at Madrid, Dubai, or Bangalore.

The first round in this entire process consisted of a written test: the aviation knowledge test. This was followed by a second round, which is the CASS: The CAE Crew Assessment and Selection System. The CASS consisted of a personality evaluation, an informal interview, an English test on spoken and comprehension, psycho-motor tests involving basic flying skills that also test the examinee’s abilities to multitask and process information in a stressful environment.

The third and final round consisted of a Group Discussion (GD) followed by an interview. Those on the interview panel included the Vice President: Flight Operations at IndiGo Airlines; Examiner on the A320 and Chief Pilot, Flight Operations, IndiGo Airlines; and the Vice-President of HR, IndiGo.

The Type rating Program will cost US$ 34,500, which is approximately INR 21 Lakhs.

Sushank will immensely benefit from Project Airbus Tech. The Airbus A320 is a complex airplane that requires a deep understanding of the airplane. 10 weeks is too short a time to master the airplane, but Sushank’s efforts on PAT will pay him rich dividends in mastering the 320 earlier than his peers.

We wish him all the best!