Flying club trainees strength cut to half

Bhopal: Student strength in prestigious Madhya Pradesh Flying Club (MPFC) has come down by half from last year--from 135 in 2010-11 to 53 in 2011-12. The drastic fall in number is reflection on recession in aviation sector and slump in demand for pilot. 

However, flying club secretary Milind Mahajan is dismissive of any such theory. He maintains that students have faith in training imparted at the club.

He pointed out that the aviation sector is going through a bad patch with major players in private and public sector such as Kingfisher and Indian Airlines facing existential crisis.

On the other hand, students are quite apprehensive. Siddharth Sahdev, a student at MPFC, said flying operations at Indore and Bhopal had been halted for nonpayment of hangar charges and absence of chief flying instructor (CFI) .

Though the problem was sorted out, it did cause serious worries among the students, he added In November 24, 2011 Sheetal Jain, a trainee pilot, had a close shave when the aircraft at the MP Flying club skidded out of the runaway. She lost control during landing at the Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar airport.

The incident delayed two Jet Airway flights. Jain was flying aircraft without instructor. Students felt jittery thereafter. MPFC captains Manoj Chabaria and AK Singh say the club has set numerous records among the flying clubs in India since launch of its operation in 1955. The club offers courses for pilot training for various durations.

Source:  http://daily.bhaskar.com