01 Wednesday Jan 2014
Posted in General Aviation Interest
2013 was a very interesting year for civil aviation, both globally and locally (India). In this article, we capture some of the most prominent, and important events that took place, that will help shape the aviation of tomorrow.
Read the review, HERE.
24 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in Flight Safety
Tags
Accident, aircraft, country, Crash, Cross, Diamond, FGE, Gondia, IGRUA, Missing, Navigation, Panchmarhi, Training, VT
UPDATE02: Nullifies Update01. Director of IGRUA, Air Marshal (retd) VK Verma confirms that the aircraft / wreckage is not found, and that Search and Rescue are still underway. Although the situation hints at an undesirable outcome, we apologize for bringing out the previous update.
UPDATE01: Reportedly VT-FGE’s has crashed, taking the life of the student pilot.
A 4 year old Diamond DA 40 CS (similar to above photo) bearing registration VT-FGE went missing on a training flight today (24th December 2013). The aircraft departed Gondia at 07:09UTC (12:29 IST) for a navigation cross country to Panchmarhi and back. The aircraft was expected to return to Gondia at 09:16UTC (14:46 IST).
The last known position was 63NM on Radial 359 from Nagpur Radar, at 0745UTC (1315IST). This places the last known position of the aircraft on the route from Gondia to Panchmarhi, with no apparent deviation. This last know position is overhead the village of Raja Khoh, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, and 80NM from Gondia.
The distance between Gondia and Panchmarhi is 120NM, and was the first long navigation cross country flown by the IGRUA cadet (name withheld upon request). The cadet has about 90 hours total time. The cadet was the only occupant, on board.
Terrain around Panchmarhi
Panchmari, a hill station, which is at an elevation of 3,600ft, is known to be notorious for its terrain, turbulence and poor visibility. Panchmari has a mud, unmarked runway oriented 04-22.
Search and rescue operations have been commenced, but the aircraft hasn’t been located. No ELT signal has been received, pointing either to a soft and safe landing of the aircraft in an open field, or the malfunction of an ELT in a crash. We sincerely hope the former is true. No call has been received from the cadet’s mobile phone, which was with him. No distress calls were heard.
The endurance of the aircraft is 04:00hrs, and at the time of writing this piece, the aircraft departed 10:15hrs ago.
10 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in General Aviation Interest
This is the last of the “CFI Feature”, which features the Chief Flying Instructors of four flight schools in India: IGRUA (click), NFTI, Chimes Aviation Academy (click), and GMR-APFT (click) (in no particular order). The first two institutes are managed by CAE, to a larger extent at NFTI due to CAE’s 49% ownership. The last two are academies that are more flexible, offering an exclusive PPL as well. All schools, save Chimes, have some foreign component in them, and all are dominantly Diamond Aircraft (DA-40 and DA-42) operators, except Chimes which operates Cessna 172s and a Piper Seneca IV. GMR-APFT has diesel engine Diamond DA-40s, and IGRUA will soon be a full-fledged, first of its kind aviation university. NFTI is known for its IndiGo Cadet Pilot Program.
This week, we focus on NFTI’s CFI, who retired from the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a Group Captain. He served the Air Force for 28 years, and opted to retire prematurely from the service, in 2007.
His first exposure to aviation was while in school in Chandigarh where his family had a business interest at Chandigarh Air Force base. Many of his father’s friends were Antonov AN-12 pilots, flying the then workhorse of the Indian Air Force’s transport fleet. Some motivated him to join the Indian Air Force.
Group Captain (retd) Ashwani Bhakoo was an instructor, first a Pilot Attack Instructor on Jaguar aircraft from TACDE (Tactics & Air Combat Development Establishment) which is supposedly akin to the Top Gun school. This was one of the first courses run in India in 1986 to develop and train Instructors who could then train the Jaguar Pilots for Combat and Weapon delivery. Later, in 1988, he proceeded for the Qualified Flying training course, after which he trained pilots on Kiran Mk1& Mk2, HPT 32 and Jaguar aircraft. With more than 6000 flying hours to his credit on the Jaguars, Mig 21s, Kiran, Iskra, HT2, HPT 32, Falcon 900EX (Corporate Jet), Cessna 172 & 152 and the Zen Microlight, Ashwani Bhakoo recently joined NFTI as the Chief Flying Instructor.
1. What, according to you, are the traits that must be exhibited by a flight instructor?
Ashwani: An instructor must exhibit high skill levels, be knowledgeable, accept students with sincerity, be a mentor and a guide, be firm and fair, committed to the improvement and progress of his student, give credit where due and criticize constructively, be consistent in his teaching methods, be open to improving his own skill, knowledge and exposure to new information levels and admit to any errors. An instructor has to be a role model and therefore his demeanour, dress, speech and behaviour must be beyond reproach. He must have good communication skills and should evolve new approaches to teaching taking each student to be unique and therefore requiring an as required approach/technique. An instructor must be very patient and high on emotional intelligence with a willingness to work long hours. Being an instructor is more of a passion to teach and mould individuals who may be raw into glittering diamonds. In my opinion this is not just a job.
2. Are there “natural”, born instructors (those who have a natural flair for teaching), or is it something that can be picked up by anybody?
Ashwani: While there are individuals who have inherent qualities of a teacher but formal training is a must for becoming an instructor. The people to be chosen to enter this field must be committed and must not do so as a stop gap arrangement. This must be a career in itself and not a stepping stone to for flight hour building. Once the selection is made based on the requirements of the job the selected individual can be trained and moulded into becoming a good instructor. The selection process is very important and only those with the required skill set must be in this field as they are the ones who mould a new and raw person to become a professional in a profession which demands excellence.
3. What is your take on General Aviation in India?
Ashwani: Having flown in the Corporate sector for more than 6 years, I feel there is a tremendous scope for this sector. Presently, there are very few corporates who have their own aircraft though the number is increasing daily and the business world is realising the potential of being rapidly mobile and fast travel. General aviation in India is at a very nascent stage and presently is limited due to the high taxes at airports, high fuel prices and maintenance costs. The limitation is also due the airfields available and to a certain extent due to the procedural issues in getting permissions. All this is changing and one would hope for this change to be faster.
4. Your opinion on fixed wing flying training in the country?
Ashwani: Flying training in India is in about 40 odd academies, a large number of them operation with just 2-3 aircraft. The infrastructure at these academies leaves much to be desired. As these are commercial ventures there is always a struggle between quality training and financial viability thereby at times leading to safety issues. The instructors at most of these academies are those pilots who are there as a stop gap arrangement and who have very little flying experience or very little exposure to flying other than at similar academies. There are very few instructors, if any, who have had exposure in airlines, corporate aviation or who have international experience. To many the concept of CRM as in a multi crew environment is very alien. It is only the larger academies who can afford to follow the flying training in the true spirit of the syllabus laid down. Flying training in India is at present still adhoc and only focussed on completing the licence requirements and very few, if any, academy address holistic training.
5. If there is something you’d like to change in Indian aviation, what would it be?
Ashwani: I would very much like to follow on Capt Gopinath’s (Deccan Aviation) dream of making every Indian fly. He focussed on commercial flying but I would like to see many more Indians taking to the skies as pilots in their own aircraft landing in their own backyards. Indian aviation must become less expensive and the procedures need simplification to get sanctions.
Note: All views of the CFI are personal, and do not necessarily reflect those of the flight school / institute / academy.
25 Monday Nov 2013
Posted in General Aviation Interest
The “CFI Feature” will feature the Chief Flying Instructors of four flight schools in India: IGRUA (click), NFTI, Chimes Aviation Academy, and GMR-APFT (in no particular order). The first two institutes are managed by CAE, to a larger extent at NFTI due to CAE’s 49% ownership. The last two are academies that are more flexible, offering an exclusive PPL as well. All schools, save Chimes, have some foreign component in them, and all are dominantly Diamond Aircraft (DA-40 and DA-42) operators, except Chimes which operates Cessna 172s and a Piper Seneca IV: the only flying Seneca in the country, as of today. GMR-APFT has diesel engine Diamond DA-40s, and IGRUA will soon be a full-fledged, first of its kind aviation university. NFTI is known for its IndiGo Cadet Pilot Program.
This week, we focus on Chimes Aviation Academy’s CFI, who retired from the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a Wing Commander. He served the Air Force for over 22 years.
His childhood fascination for airplanes made him join the National Defence Academy after class XI as an Air Force cadet, and joined the IAF upon graduation. He has the distinction of being experienced on both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. A helicopter Instructor at the IAF, he also flew and picked up 1000 hours of experience on fixed wing airplanes (HJT-16 “Kiran”, HPT-32 “Depak”), at the forces. This unique combination makes today’s interview special: understanding a pilot, and instructor whose experience has a rare mix of both types of aircraft. With more than 5600 flying hours to his credit, Neel Kamal is now the Chief Flying Instructor at Chimes Aviation Academy, Dhana, Madhya Pradesh.
As the head of flying training at Chimes Aviation Academy, and a rotary and fixed wing pilot, we get to better understand the CFI.
1. You were an instructor at the Air Force. What, according to you, are the traits that must be exhibited by a flight instructor?
Neel Kamal: A flight instructor has to have highest standards of discipline (both in air and on ground), mature behaviour and skill level. A flight instructor also has to have a lot of patience and some knowledge of human psychology. A student pilot sees his instructor as a mentor and his hero. He follows the example set by his instructor, so an Instructor has to lead by the right example. Most of the people see Aviation as a glamorous thing and get attracted to it. In fact aviation requires lot of hard work and strict discipline. This has to be inculcated in the student pilot by the instructor. Taking short cuts does not work in aviation.
2. Are there “natural”, born instructors (those who have a natural flair for teaching), or is it something that can be picked up by anybody?
Neel Kamal: Like any other field, there are some “natural” born flight instructors. You have to have a flair for instructing to be a good flight instructor. A good pilot does not necessarily make a good instructor. However, being a good instructor is not something which cannot be acquired by not so gifted “born” instructors. They just have to put in some extra effort to be a good instructor.
3. The transition to fixed wing: how and why?
Neel Kamal: In Air Force I mainly flew helicopters and I loved it. It gave me an opportunity to be able to see places which I would have never seen in my life otherwise. It also gave me an opportunity to develop my natural flying skills as helicopters normally operate in remote areas with no or minimal of Radio and Navigation aids. I did not want to spoil this wonderful experience once I came out of the Air Force. I also wanted to do something different. Being an Instructor in the Air Force, I also flew fixed wing and had close to 1000 hours. So I decided to fly fixed wing so as to operate from more organised places.
4. Does a rotary wing experience have any implications on fixed wing flying?
Neel Kamal: There are some differences in rotary and fixed wing flying but the basic set of skills required is the same. These set of skills and knowledge gained while flying helicopters surely helps you when you shift to fixed wing flying. To give an example, the knowledge of weather and ability to predict it that you develop while flying helicopters surely helps in assessing the weather even when you fly fixed wing aircraft.
5. Which is easier, and which is more fun?
Neel Kamal: Helicopters are inherently unstable whereas fixed wing aircraft are stable by design. So it is more difficult to learn to fly a helicopter than a fixed wing aircraft. Once you get over the initial learning part both are the same. As regards the fun part, both are fun to fly if you enjoy flying. I had my fun flying helicopters in the Air Force, now I am having fun flying fixed wing.
6. What are the challenges associated with each type of flying?
Neel Kamal: Helicopters normally operate in remote areas due to their ability to land in small spaces where helipads can be made. These remote areas have poor communication and navigation facilities and normally have adverse weather conditions. Operating in these areas is the major challenge in rotary flying. As regards fixed wing aircraft, due to their higher speeds and the limitation of landing on the runway, landing in bad weather or poor visibility conditions posses the biggest challenge.
7. What is your take on General Aviation in India?
Neel Kamal: There is a lot of scope of expanding the general aviation in India. I have met people who want to learn flying and have their own aircraft but are deterred by various factors. The two major deterrents are lack of infrastructure and present rules and regulations. Lack of infrastructure makes it a very expensive and difficult proposition to even park an aircraft at any airport, let alone fly it. Our present rules and regulations are not very user friendly and I believe there are too many of them, which makes it difficult to comprehend them.
8. Your opinion on Fixed wing flying training in the country?
Neel Kamal: The aviation boom in India attracted all kind of people to fixed wing flying training. Like in any other field, some were serious players with good intentions and some came in to cash in on the sudden requirement of additional pilots. With the down turn in aviation sector there has been a shake up. Present policies and dwindling number of students has made it hard for the flying training schools to survive. Today some of the flying training schools in India are imparting better training than those being imparted by a lot of schools abroad. I can say this as I have flown with lot of young people who have done their flying training abroad.
9. If there is something you’d like to change in Indian aviation, what would it be?
Neel Kamal: In India, aviation is treated as something for the elite and rich. This perception is visible in our policies and in the mind set of people joining aviation. This has to change for aviation to grow and flourish in India.
Note: All views of the CFI are personal, and do not necessarily reflect those of the flight school / institute / academy.
18 Monday Nov 2013
Posted in General Aviation Interest
The “CFI Feature” will feature the Chief Flying Instructors of four flight schools in India: IGRUA, NFTI, Chimes Aviation Academy, and GMR-APFT (in no particular order). The first two institutes are managed by CAE, to a larger extent at NFTI due to CAE’s 49% ownership. The last two are academies that are more flexible, offering an exclusive PPL as well. All schools, save Chimes, have some foreign component in them, and all are dominantly Diamond Aircraft (DA-40 and DA-42) operators, except Chimes which operates Cessna 172s and a Piper Seneca IV: the only flying Seneca in the country, as of today. GMR-APFT has diesel engine Diamond DA-40s, and IGRUA will soon be a full-fledged, first of its kind aviation university. NFTI is known for its IndiGo Cadet Pilot Program.
This week, we focus on IGRUA’s CFI, who retired from the Indian Air Force (IAF) as an Air Commodore. He served the Air Force for 34 years, leaving the service on the 31st of March, 2010.
He has the distinction of undergoing the Flying Instructors Course as well as the Experimental Test Pilots Course, after which he instructed at the IAF Test Pilots School on all types of fixed wing aircraft from trainers to fighters to medium tactical transport aircraft. With more than 5000 flying hours to his credit, TK Chatterjee is now the Chief Flying Instructor at IGRUA.
As the head of flying training at IGRUA, we get to better understand the CFI.
1. What, according to you, are the traits that must be exhibited by a flight instructor?
TK Chatterjee: All round knowledge about aviation, very good basic flying skills, command over language, eye for detail and the ability to analyse the student’s mistakes and suggest effective corrective measures.
2. Are there “natural”, born instructors (those who have a natural flair for teaching), or is it something that can be picked up by anybody?
TK Chatterjee: Being “natural” always helps. However, it is not difficult to learn to teach provided such learning is done in an organised manner from specialists.
In the IAF a pilot is nominated for the QFI course based on his flying abilities, when he has around 700-800 hours on fast jets. The course itself is tough and performance in the course has effects on the future career of the pilots. Further, performance as instructor is also assessed periodically and such assessments have implications on the officer’s career. So the whole game is lot more serious.
In civil aviation, a person with 300 hours on simplest of aeroplanes can qualify to become an Asst Flying Instructor.
3. What is your take on General Aviation in India?
TK Chatterjee: Industry prediction is that this sector is supposed to grow at 10% rate annually. Hence the potential is enormous provided the economy continues to grow. The scope is not just for aircrew but for all associated segments too like airport staff, maintenance staff, MRO services etc.
The metros are already well connected, so the more we connect the hinterland of the country with the mainstream; more will be the growth in GA. Hence satellite airports in metros and airports in second and third tier cities need to be developed first for this segment to grow.
Secondly, the regulatory framework is primarily aimed at scheduled operations which are not always applicable to GA. The two should be looked at differently.
Thirdly, regulatory apparatus has to evolve an effective monitoring methodology for about 150 and growing number of GA operators.
4. Your opinion on fixed wing flying training in the country?
TK Chatterjee: Fixed wing flying training is imparted by about 40 institutions in the country. Since aviation is cash intensive business, most of them have very limited assets. Hence, quite naturally, there is a clash between commercial interests and quality of training. Small enterprises are not very clear whether to treat trainees as “students” or “clients”. Failures are not heard of in this industry! Bigger enterprises are in a better position to deliver quality due to volume of business. A centralised testing authority for issue of license will also help in standardisation of training.
Most students (not all though) who take on civil aviation as a career, see it as a quick way to big money. Academics are not their forte and aviation not their first love. Hence when faced with subjects leaning heavily on technology, they falter. Also, since the best and the worst are rewarded with the same license at the end of training, there is no great incentive to do better. Once the civil aviation sector revives itself and demand for aircrew grows, there will be more competition and this aspect will improve.
Staffing is another issue. Like the problem with teaching profession in every field, the best opt for avenues with better remuneration, which definitely is not teaching. Some use this industry to build up experience and move on. Ex IAF pilots who retire early and take this line as second career are the best bet, but most leave IAF without civil license or civil flying instructor rating and hence are not eligible.
Airline industry is aware of loopholes in the system; hence their selection process for aircrew is designed to plug them.
5. If there is something you’d like to change in Indian aviation, what would it be?
TK Chatterjee: The regulatory body wants to control every small thing in the aviation industry, but they have neither the human resources nor the technology to work at a pace that the industry demands nor are they willing to delegate authority. Hence everything slows down. A serious re-look is required in the working methodology of the regulatory apparatus of Indian civil aviation.
Note: All views of the CFI are personal, and do not necessarily reflect those of the flight school / institute / academy.
The Flying Engineer 