Forced landing for flying training at government aviation training institute

BHUBANESWAR: Flying training at the government aviation training institute (GATI) in the city has been stopped since January after the state civil aviation department failed to pay up the project allocation fee to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
 
The airport authorities had stopped flying operations demanding 50 per cent project allocation fee, a license fee for training at Biju Patnaik airport. The state civil aviation directorate, which runs GATI, said it had been paying a token money of Re 1 per year for training till January 2012.

"After the AAI charged the fee, the state government could not pay the amount till July. We deposited about Rs 46 lakh with the airport authorities in August seeking permission to continue with the training but are yet to receive any correspondence from them," said Muralidhar Palai, additional secretary, general administration, who is in additional charge of director civil aviation. Although flying activities have been stopped, theory classes are on, he added. ' Already burdened with the license fee demand, the civil aviation department has outsourced the training to a private company. Global Avianautics LTD (GAL) is running the training with four senior pilots and four engineers.

The state civil aviation department receives Rs 60 lakh per year for providing space and two training flights.

"We have two flights for training - one owned by the state government and the other donated by Aero Club India. About 50 students have enrolled for the training but practical classes are not being held due to the restrictions. The students have already paid the flying fee of Rs 9000 per hour," said Sudhir Dey, officer on special duty, civil aviation. Airport director Sarat Kumar admitted to the restrictions on flying training. "We had demanded 50 per cent of the revenue being generated by the state civil aviation department from training. The government had not paid the amount till July despite repeated reminders. We received it in August," he said.

Kumar said he has written to the higher authorities for renewal of permission. "We may get the approval in a week for allowing flying training. However, we can't extend it beyond seven years. The state government is demanding operations for another 17 years," he added.

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