Capt. Yashraj Tongia, chief flying instructor of Yash Air Ltd, says going abroad will not help any candidate as it will cost more to get quality training. “It will take at least 8-10 months to convert his foreign CPL to Indian CPL. Moreover, it will cost more overseas than in India, if a candidate wants to get high quality training similar to India. I believe directorate general of civil aviation is taking steps to speed up approving pilots,” he adds.
The other objection is that the medical test before a candidate is given a licence in India is only conducted at army hospitals. “The wait list at the hospital is so long that it is fully booked until early 2009,” says another official at one of the training schools, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Students who complete their training overseas earn a commercial pilot licence from the country they are trained in. They have to then appear for two exams and medical test to convert the licence to an Indian commercial pilot licence. They are qualified to fly aircraft in the country only after they successfully complete these procedures. Given the demand, many freshly graduated pilots land jobs that pay up to Rs1.5 lakh a month.
“In the context of shortage of medical exam centres, the government has now approved three more medical centres in this week for conducting initial Class I medical examinations for pilots. The approved medical centres include Max Health Care Institute in Panchsheel Park in New Delhi, Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai and Apollo Hospital in Chennai,” says a ministry of civil aviation official, who didn’t want to be named.
“The government is also considering outsourcing of pilot examination to speed up the approval process. It is also in the process of setting up a pilot training institute at Gondia in Maharashtra, and state-run flying training school Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, or IGRUA, has tied up with Canada’s CAE to enhance the quality of training in India,” he says. “The pass ratio in India is lower as the standards are higher here. Now, we have quarterly examinations and online facilities to increase the number of pilots. The upgradation of IGRUA will help to create more pilots in the coming years.”
Meanwhile, Verma has crunched the numbers and decided the overseas route made more sense. Inspired by her father, a former Air Force pilot, Verma wants to become a pilot by the time she is 19.
“Everyone’s worried,” she concedes. “This is my dream. I can’t back off.”
jeetha.d@livemint.com