Aviation India: Careers

With the aviation sector booming and pilot shortage pegged at around 2,000 by 2010, flying is an obvious career option for many, passion be damned. However, in some good schools, dropouts from bad ones are as high as 25-30%. With many schools out to make a fast buck, gullible youngsters are being taken for a ride. A bumpy one, in fact.
Here's lesson No.1 for wannabe pilots: zero in on the right flying school to save time and money. There are 41 listed on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website. Some such as Yash Air, Carver Aviation Academy, Baramati, and Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy (RGAA), Hyderabad, routinely get students from other schools.
So what makes for a good flying school? Safety record tops the list. It's generally a good indicator of a school's overall efficiency. Other tips from experts :

>Proactive approach
‘‘The thumb rule for a good school,'' says Marc Carvalho of Carver Academy, ‘‘is to get one hour of flying for every day spent at the school.''
>Plane-student ratio
The global average is 1:8. In India, most schools have 1:25. A good one, say experts, should have 10 students per plane.
>Instructor-student ratio
Ideally, it should be 1:5. In fact, Carvalho says a student needs an instructor only 30% of the time. ‘‘Out of the 200 hours needed, 100 should be solo flying. A decent student will need about 130 hours here. So only some 70 hours of dual command (under instructor) is needed.''
>Quality of instructors
‘‘Planes without instructors,'' says Yashraj Tongia of Yash Air, ‘‘are just metal bodies. In order to get and retain quality instructors, we've funded the flying of 15 cadets who'll be taken on as instructors.''
But the fact is most instructors aren't there for the love of teaching. They prefer the greener pastures of airlines, where a fresh pilot could start with Rs 1.5 lakh. Schools are trying to match this.
>Location
Having good weather conditions is important. ‘‘Baramati,'' says Carvalho, '' That's important for a student. The more he flies, the quicker he finishes. Time is money, after all, in this industry. Plus, if the school isn't located near a big airport, it's an advantage — there's more airspace to fly in.
14/10/07 Shobha John/Times of India