Pilot Training: Why Go Overseas?

The flying training industry in India has been challenged and is an often ignored industry. Now with the Indian economy looking up, focus on skills training and reduction of price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), the scope of employment of an airline pilot has gone up. There is demand for pilot training and one need not go overseas to get a pilot licence as there are capable institutions within the country, offering excellent training at much lower costs.

Chimes Aviation Academy (CAA), India’s premier and largest private sector aviation training academy based at Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, states that the years 2008-10 saw an over-supply in the number of pilots available. Many went off to other countries, got a FAA licence and came back to India to look for jobs, and there were none. After the overseas trained pilots went through the essential licence conversion process to change their licence to a DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) issued pilot licence, often it would take 12-18 months, by which time the jobs in India had evaporated.

However, the scene today in 2016 is quite different to 2010; many pilots have taken jobs with the Middle Eastern airlines, Qatar, Etihad, Emirates etc; also many have reached the mandatory age, and have retired from active flying, and the need for pilots has appeared again. The fall in the value of the rupee has made it more expensive for airlines to hire foreign Commanders whose salary is negotiated in dollars or euros.

‘Train in India’ campaign

Chimes Aviation has embarked on its ‘Train in India’ campaign to educate aspiring pilots on the huge benefits of undertaking flying training in India. Under the ‘Train in India’ programme, the benefits are many. It is cost effective compared to going to the United States, Australia, Malaysia or any other country. The CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence) issued is by DGCA making it easy for the CPL holder to get a job in airlines based out of India. One of the biggest plus factors of training here is that the CPL holder (from overseas) need not wait for 12-18 months for licence conversion which is time and money wasted.

Y.N. Sharma
Chief Executive Officer and Accountable Manager

States Y.N. Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Chimes Aviation Pvt Ltd, “Chimes Aviation has been in the forefront from its inception in April 2008 in providing the highest quality of pilot training in India. Retrofit of the CD-135 engines on Cessna 172 and Diamond DA-42 aircraft is yet another leading initiative by Chimes Aviation which would result in advantages of reliable training facilities to students, and a paradigm shift in ab-initio pilot training in India.”

Sharma adds: “Chimes Aviation is successfully educating aspiring pilots to ‘Train in India’ and get employed. This focused effort has yielded our graduates getting jobs in all Indian Flag airlines and we have had a great run of 5,780 hours flown in 2015-16. Our focus on safety, process-based training, and efficient flying has yielded the student pilots, and us good results.”

DGCA re-certified

CAA is among the first few flying training organisations which have already been recertified by the DGCA. In order to meet the International requirements of aviation safety and standardisation of procedures, over the last three years the DGCA has been taking major steps to meet the requirements of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in all facets of aviation.

Besides conducting in-depth audits of various airlines, DGCA has also been conducting stringent recertification audits of flying training organisations, as per the latest Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) guidelines. These recertification audits would certainly go a long way in standardisation of flying training in India to bring it at par with the international standards.

Chimes goes for retrofit of engines

It may be recollected that for a number of years, pilot training in India had no choice but to operate with AVGAS fuel for the engines that came fitted on the aircraft. AVGAS fuel is costly and is at times not readily available in India. This caused pilot training facilities to stock up on large quantities, or to be non-operational at times due to non-availability of fuel. Unlike AVGAS, ATF is readily available and is produced in India. Since all the commercial airliners operate with the same fuel, its availability at all airports would never be a challenge.

After an in-depth study two years back, Chimes Aviation decided to retrofit its fleet of Cessna 172R aircraft with the CD-135 engine. After obtaining the required approvals from DGCA and undertaking conversion training in Germany, the Chimes Aviation Academy team has successfully carried out the engine retrofit programme on the entire Cessna 172R fleet with the ATF run engine. In addition, the twin engine Diamond DA-42 aircraft of CAA was upgraded with the same engine in the United States last year before being flown to India to join the CAA fleet.

With the conversion to CD-135 engines, ready availability of ATF has ensured that the CAA fleet of single and twin engine training aircraft are always available for flying. Also, this retrofit programme has resulted in some reduction in cost of training and would encourage more students to undertake flying training in India.

Chimes Aviation Pvt Ltd, the company that operates Chimes Aviation Academy, is the authorized master installation centre and service centre for retrofit of the continental engines for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Engine commonality

Chimes Aviation Academy operates a fleet of single-engine Cessna 172R and twin engine Diamond DA-42 & Piper Seneca-IV PA-34 aircraft. The complete training fleet of single engine Cessna 172R aircraft, equipped with Garmin-1000 glass cockpit has been upgraded to Continental CD-135 engine, which operate with ATF. In addition, the same engines are fitted on their twin engine Diamond DA-42, which is also equipped with the Garmin-1000 glass cockpit.

Commonality of glass cockpit and engines on the single and twin engine fleet has certainly contributed to ease of training of student pilots and enhanced safety. Common technical schedules and logistics support have helped streamline the maintenance practices. In addition, all these engines are equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC). FADEC not only provides for efficient engine operation, it also ensures ready monitoring of engine health, thereby enhancing safety.

CA upgrades training processes

In keeping with the company vision and to derive benefit from the upsurge in aviation, CAA is also gearing up to upgrade the training curriculum for a Cadet Programme which would provide the student pilots all-rounded airline-ready aviation skills and would ensure that the future Captains feel properly equipped for the additional responsibilities that come with command.

Chimes Aviation Academy (www.caaindia.com) is a division of Chimes Aviation Private Limited, which is part of the Chimes Group of companies (www.chimesgroup.in). Launched in June 2008, CAA offers DGCA approved CPL & Private Pilot Licence (PPL) fully integrated pilot training courses, supported with single- and multi-engine aircraft and in-house maintenance services. CAA is an ISO 9001:2008 certified pilot training institute with over 37,000 hours of flying training experience.