Aviation India: Careers

DGCA has published the revised venue and schedule of AME Licence Examination to be conducted on 28 & 29 of October 2008. Please find it here in the DGCA site.
The admission list also is revised.The revised list for various centers can also be downloaded by clicking the the following links.

• Bangalore
• Chennai
• Kolkata
• Hyderabad
• Mumbai
• New Delhi
• Others

Rejected Candidates are here:

• List1
• List 2

Srinagar: In order to promote general aviation activities of helicopter and small aircraft in the state, the Civil Aviation Department is developing a technical complex at Satwari near Jammu Airport. The complex once ready can also be used to start flying school, which will be first of its kind in the state.
The Civil Aviation Department has also taken up with Airport Authority of India (AAI) to develop Kishtwar Airport to be funded by the AAI. In addition, survey is also being conducted to develop a landing strip at Surankote, Poonch in collaboration with AAI, after which a comprehensive Draft Project Report (DPR) would be formulated to be planned and funded by the state.
With a view to promoting international tourism alongwith local tourism, the department also plans to launch heli-skiing operations alongwith the helicopter services to various tourist destinations in the state by inviting private parties and helping them to establish their operations.
The department has undertaken upgradation of the Nehru Helipad to accommodate larger size helicopters.
25/09/08 Etalaat

Mumbai: Rahul Sharma’s dream was to soar high, and he died in pursuit of it. The 20-year-old youth from Mumbai died in a plane crash in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday.
Sharma, who was undergoing pilot training at the Sydney Flight Training Centre, died during one of his test flights. This is the second mishap since August, in which a trainee pilot died in a crash during tests.
According to the Spring Valley police, Australia, Rahul died after his single-engineLiberty XL2 crashed on a farmland in Sydney’s Luddenham suburb on Wednesday. He had taken off from the Bankstown airport at 2.30 pm.
Rahul was undergoing pilot training at the centre in Bankstown, about 30 km from the Sydney central business district, since January. Sharma’s family in India had been notified about the mishap, said sources.
“Shortly after 4 pm, emergency services received reports of a light plane that had crashed into trees on a property in Willowdene Avenue, Luddenham. Upon arrival, the emergency services personnel located the sole male occupant died inside the wreckage,” a local police officer said.
26/09/08 Daily News & Analysis

US experts will help authorities investigate a fatal light aircraft crash in Sydney's southwest.
Air safety investigators began investigating the crash which killed a student pilot, believed to be an Indian national aged in his 20s, on a training flight on Wednesday.
The two-seater, low-wing Liberty XL-2 crashed into trees on a rural property in Willowdene Avenue, Luddenham, just after 4pm (AEST).
The crash instantly killed the trainee pilot from Bankstown's Sydney Flight Training Centre.
US aircraft and engine experts will arrive in Sydney on Friday to investigate the crash.
It was the first fatality worldwide of a Liberty aircraft, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) director of aviation safety Julian Walsh said.
"A team only arrived on site this morning, so they are really doing a preliminary explanation of the wreckage and they are also starting to do interviews with some witnesses," he said.
"We've got some representatives of the aircraft manufacturer and the engine manufacturer flying out from the United States.
Mr Walsh said the Liberty XL-2 was a new model of aircraft, only registered in Australia this year.
Its pilot is believed to be an Indian national, with Fairfax newspapers reporting he arrived in Australia from Mumbai in January.
The student pilot was "doing some sort of navigational exercise", Mr Walsh said.
Sydney Flight Training Centre at Bankstown Airport is a school which caters for students from around the world seeking their commercial pilots licence.
Founder and chief pilot of the college, former navy fighter pilot and Royal Flight Doctors pilot Barry Diamond, was unavailable for comment.
25/09/08 The Age, Australia

A 20-year-old man killed in a light plane crash in Sydney's west yesterday is the second Indian national in a month to die in Australia while learning to fly.
The aviation student, whose name has not been released, crashed a Liberty XL2 single-engine aircraft into farmland at Luddenham just before 4.30pm.
He had moved to Sydney from Mumbai in January this year to undertake pilot training at the Sydney Flight Training Centre in Bankstown, Green Valley police said.
Last month student Akash Ananth, 24, also from India, was killed on his first solo flight over Melbourne on August 27. Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators were expected to examine the Luddenham crash site today.
Superintendent Dave Stinson from Green Valley police said the pilot had taken off from Bankstown Airport just after 2.30pm yesterday.
It was not known when he had been due to return, Superintendent Stinson said. Nearby residents told detectives they did not see the plane but heard its engine revving and then heard an object hitting the trees and crashing to the ground, he said.
The plane, owned by the flight school, crashed in a paddock near the intersection of Willowdene Avenue and Vicar Park Lane, near the busy Great North Road but away from built-up areas.
Emergency services arrived shortly after 4.30pm and a doctor from NRMA CareFlight confirmed the man had died. The pilot's family in Mumbai have been notified, Superintendent Stinson said.
Liberty's Australian distributor could not be contacted for comment last night. A spokesman for Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said the flight school owned nine of the 10 Liberty XDL2 aircraft registered in Australia.
25/09/08 Georgina Robinson/Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

New Delhi: The airline industry is likely to lose 1,00,000 jobs in the coming year worldwide as the financial meltdown and soaring crude oil prices force companies to cut corners to stay afloat, said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO, International Air Transport Association.
“These are projections and there have been massive layoffs and several airlines have gone bankrupt,” Bisignani said.
He, however, did not specify the number of job cuts in India, but said the industry was clearly distressed.
Scarred by spiralling crude oil prices and crippling finances, domestic airlines are adopting cost-cutting measures including retrenchment. Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways recently terminated the services of 300 employees.
“No industry can predict its human resource requirement,” said Wolfgang Prock Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways.
Among the low-cost carriers, Go Air has already retrenched 10 per cent employees and SpiceJet resorted to pruning several of its unviable routes.
24/09/08 Hindustan Times

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh will now churn out pilots. Three flight training academies and an aircraft maintenance engineering institute are coming up on the state-owned airstrips on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Last week, three flying clubs of the country — Chetak, Ambition and Pioneer — received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to set up their flight training academies on the airstrip in Aligarh.
The Chetak Flying Club is also setting up the Uttarakhand Academy of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Institute along the airstrip.
The institutes have initiated the admission process. Rajiv Khandari, the Chairman of Mumbai-based Ambition Flying Club, said: “We began the admission process from September 12 immediately after getting the approval from the DGCA. The training classes started from September 15.”
Saroj Joshi, the Chairperson of Delhi-based Pioneer Flying Club and daughter of BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, said: “Our institute will become operational in about a month.”
In July 2007, the Mayawati Government had decided to hand over all the 12 state-owned airstrips to private investors for setting up of flying training academies and aircraft maintenance engineering institutes on PPP model.
The airstrips — located in districts of Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Sultanpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Farrukhabad, Faizabad, Kushinagar, Sonebhadra, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shrawasti and Etawah — used only for VVIP movements till now.
Under the present agreement, a private investor is required to pay Rs 3 lakh per year for initial five years to the government, after which the contract will be renewed with a 50 per cent hike in the charges. The state government is providing the airstrips, hangars and terminal buildings to the investors on a 30-year lease.
22/09/08 Alka Pande/Indian Express

Schedule for AME licence examination October 2008 session is published at the DGCA website.
The exams are on October 28 & 29.
Candidates appearing at All Centres of AME Licence Written Examination shall have to carry a Photo Identity Card issued by DGCA for entry into the Examination Hall. DGCA Regional / Sub-Regional Offices shall issue the Photo Identity Card to the candidates appearing at the examination centres under their jurisdiction.
For students of AME Training Institutes this Photo Identity Card shall be issued by the Chief Instructor of the respective Institute. For candidates other than the AME Training institutes, the Photo Identity Card shall be issued by the DGCA Regional/Sub-Regional Offices.
Candidates are advised to download the form given in this page and fill in the required information and paste their passport size photograph at the given space. Candidates should take Voter Identity Card, Passport, Departmental Photo Identity Card, Airport Entry Card as proof for issue of their Photo Identity Card and downloaded page of the website list of admitted candidates on which their name appears along-with the completed form to their respective DGCA Regional / Sub-Regional Offices for issue of DGCA Photo Identity Card. These Photo Identity Cards shall be issued before the start of written examinations i.e upto 27th September 2008.
Candidates appearing at Delhi Centre can also get their Photo Identity Card issued at Central Examination Organization, (CEO) East Block- 3, Level – III, R.K. Puram, New Delhi on any working day between 1500 hrs to 1700 hrs. Candidates who do not possess the Photo Identity Card, issued by DGCA, will not be permitted in the Examination Hall.
19/09/08 DGCA

Chennai: Around 4,000 acres of developed infrastructure (final phase) will be required to develop the Chennai Aero Park, a proposal mooted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and under consideration of the Tamil Nadu Government. The park in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad will collectively be the largest integrated aerospace facility in the world, according to a concept paper prepared by CII.
The Chennai Aero Park can create direct and indirect employment to the tune of one lakh for highly-skilled resources in the area of aerospace and avionics. An aerospace supply chain with technology development, process development/enhancement, workforce development and infrastructure should be part of an ecosystem, says the proposal presented at Connect2008, the two-day annual ICT (information, communication and technology) event of Tamil Nadu organised by CII in association with the State Government.
The proposed model of the Chennai Aero Park will consist of manufacturing centre, aerospace and avionics service facilities, design studio interiors, university of aerosporatories, aerospace and avionics, research and development and test laboratories, residential and other supporting facilities and an engineering centre.
The park will have a synergy of the best aerospace and avionics technologies and expertise. It will have facilities training/simulator complex, aviation and aerospace management school, aircrew training school, helipad and 3-km landing strip, manufacturing complex, software and IT complex, pilots-aid complex and residential and other supporting facilities, the paper says.
A satellite MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility will be on a 250-acre facility near the greenfield airport with runway access, the paper said.
13/09/08 Business Line/Sify

Three students from India survived a plane crash west of Golden, B.C., on Thursday afternoon after their Cessna stalled and nose-dived towards the ground.
Golden RCMP say the three men managed to survive as the plane was cushioned by trees when it crashed just past Kicking Horse Resort.
Two of the men, including the 18-year-old pilot, suffered multiple cuts to the head, while a 20-year-old passenger came out relatively unscathed.
The most serious injuries were to a 19-year-old passenger who suffered head injuries and was airlifted to Foothills Hospital by STARS after he was stabilized in Golden Hospital. The two other men are expected to be released from hospital soon.
Shortly after taking off in Golden -- about 260 kilometres west of Calgary -- the plane flew low as it entered a valley. RCMP say the pilot realized he needed to gain altitude to avoid a mountain. The pilot turned, but as the plane rose it lost air speed, RCMP say, before stalling.
The three men all have around six months of flying experience and were flying a Cessna 175 owned by Sky Quest Aviation in Langley, B.C. They are all in Canada on student visas and live in Surrey, B.C.
12/09/08 Calgary Herald, Canada

Mumbai: Chimes Aviation Academy (CAA), a division of Chimes Aviation Pvt. Ltd. and a part of Chimes Group, formally launched a integrated Pilot Training Academy in Dhana, Madhya Pradesh yesterday. The academy aims at creating a 'World-Class, Global Scale Pilot Training Programme.' Armed with the latest fleet, comprehensive curriculum and renowned faculty consisting of aviation specialist with global exposure, CAA offers comprehensive training for professional pilots in India.
CAA is planning to train over 120 pilots annually and is currently offering Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) approved courses like CPL (Commercial Pilot License) and PPL (Private Pilot License). CAA will soon be seeking FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) certifications to enable training on multiple global licenses and will also be moving up the value chain by offering Advanced Simulator Training.
11/09/08 TravelBizMonitor

Jamshedpur: Aspiring pilots of the steel city would learn the nuances of flying without entering an aircraft’s cockpit. Simulation would help them experience “final approach” or the first landing of a student pilot sitting in their institute.
City-based Alchemist Aviation Private Limited, a flying school, has imported a flight simulator to give trainees first-hand experience of flying.
“The maiden simulator in Jharkhand has been imported from Switzerland. Priced around Rs 1 crore, it will provide advanced training to wannabe pilots. The hi-tech machine will also give trainees a feeling of flying conditions in big airports,” S.K. Upadhyay, the chief engineer of Alchemist Aviation Private Limited, told The Telegraph.
According to Upadhyay, those opting for a commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) would undergo 25 hours of training at the simulator. An experienced pilot would assist the trainees in using the simulator.
Elaborating on the functioning of the simulator, the officials of the institute said a simulator creates real flying scenarios.
Alchemist Aviation is also procuring a new Cessna aircraft with latest features from the US to cope with the spurt in the number of students. The aircraft is expected to reach the flying school by the end of the month.
11/09/08 Pinaki Majumdar/The Telegraph

Bangalore: Akash, the trainee pilot from Bangalore, who was killed in a tragic mid-air accident in Australia around a fortnight ago, was cremated in Bangalore on Thursday.
At the T R Mills cremation ground, the mortal remains of Akash were consigned to flames. A large number of family friends and well wishers of Anantha Padmanabhan had gathered at the crematorium to bid adieu to the departed soul.
Akash, who was undergoing training, met with the accident when an aircraft of another trainee pilot, hit his aircraft from behind and damaged the wings.
As a result, the aircraft crashed, killing Akash on the spot. People queued up at Akash's residence and condoled the grieving family members.
Akash was the only child of the Padmanabhans. Anantha Padmanabhan said around 250 schoolchildren from Australia paid homage to his son by placing a wreath. He said the Indian community too helped them in bringing back the body.
According to the first hand information, Akash was flying solo on a low altitude of around 1,000 metres when the aircraft was damaged following a collision with another aircraft.
"How is it possible that two trainees are allowed at a time to fly at the same altitude and in the same direction? The Air Traffic Control Authority would easily find out how it happened as everything would be recorded in the radar, said the aggrieved father.
He expressed his faith on the Australian authorities in conducting a fair probe and find out the facts behind the incident.
11/09/08 Mangalorean.com

Bangalore: "The governor being the head of the state, his word is final and it has to be accepted. There is no question of inquiry by this court," the HC observed while dismissing a petition filed by SCT Institute of Technology, Vijayananagar , challenging the withdrawal of outsourcing order for maintenance of Government Flying Training School, Jakkur.
A technical support agreement signed on March 4 was cancelled 21 days later after it was found that the signatures of the governor and his advisers were forged.
D P Anandamani, a stenographer in the youth services department; T Ashok, under-secretary of the department, and M Devaraju, section officer in the finance department, were suspended and several others were arrested.
The documents have been sent to the truth-verification lab for analysis of handwriting and signatures.
"The governor had said the signature in the document was not his," the government's counsel said.
The government tried to revive the flying school - which stopped operations in September 1997 for want of instructors - in November 2007 by calling applications for outsourcing of pilot-training facility .
10/09/08 Times of India

Hyderabad: A single-engine aircraft - Cessna-152
(VTEMR)- crashlanded in the thickly populated Subashnagar area in Sanatnagar here at around 11.09 am resulting in the death of assistant flight instructor Captain Neeraj Jain (24) and trainee pilot P Srinivas of the AP Aviation Academy on Monday morning.
Srinivas was charred to death in the aircraft, while Jain died on the way to hospital. Jain was from Gurgaon in Delhi, while Srinivas was a resident of Sainikpuri in the city.
Begumpet airport director R K Singla told ‘TOI’ that according to Air Traffic Control (ATC) records the two-seater aircraft took off at 11.07 am from the Begumpet airport and lost contact with the ATC at 11.09 am. "We are yet to ascertain the reason for the accident," he said.
A team of officials from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would go into the cause of the accident, police said.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft hurtled down and hit an electric pole before hitting the ground. The tail of the aircraft, however, got stuck in a nearby building.
According to officials, the aircraft might have developed a technical snag and hit a high-tension powerline in the process of attempting an emergency landing at an idgah in Subhashnagar. However, the aircraft missed the open land, hit an electric pole and a building and crashed in an alley, right behind a Ganesh pandal. The panic-stricken residents ran for safety soon after the crash. A wing of the aircraft fell on the rooftop of a building. One of the local youths sustained minor injuries while trying to douse the aircraft fire by pouring buckets of water. P Vinod Kumar, who was among the first to reach the accident spot, said: "..I rushed out and saw the crashed aircraft. While one person (Srinivas) was completely burnt, another (Neeraj Jain), with folded hands, pleaded for help."
"I tried to cut fuel supply of the aircraft as there were chances of an explosion. At the same time, I tried to rescue the man. However, within few seconds, he came out of the wreckage, but he was badly burnt," he added. In fact, a major mishap was averted as there was no power supply in the area at the time of the accident.
The AP Aviation Academy uses three Cessna-152s and a Cessna-172 for training. The academy has been using the Cessna-152 for the past 20 years. A senior official of the academy said based on the ‘emergency located transmission’ (ELT), the reason for the accident could be known. "The ELT will help during the investigation," he replied to a query.
09/09/08 Times of India

Lucknow: After spending about Rs 2 crore annually on a defunct flying club in Kanpur for more than five years, the Uttar Pradesh government has finally decided to get rid of all the rusting trainer aircraft. The government now plans to hand over the airport to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
The Mayawati government will soon float global tenders for the sale of these five Zenith-make two-seater trainer aircraft. The decision has been taken on the recommendations of a government constituted committee headed by senior bureaucrat Rohit Nandan.
The club was set up by a private company, Cooperative Hind Flying Club, in the early sixties. Apart from training pilots, the club was also using their aircraft for flying VIPs in the state. In 1980 the club was liquidated, which caused a problem for the state government, as it did not have any other arrangement for flying the VIPs.
The government then set up the Directorate of Civil Aviation. “Earlier, the main purpose of the club was to continue with flying VIPs. Later, it was decided to provide training as well,” confirmed a senior government official. Since the government already had its own three flying clubs at Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, a committee was set up to discuss the feasibility of running another club. In 2001 the committe recommended continuing with the Kanpur Flying Club and closing down the rest. The district magistrate, Kanpur, was made its director.
“But the club could never function properly in want of a chief flying instructor. We advertised a few times but did not get good response,” said an official from the Civil Aviation Directorate.
The Kanpur Flying Club had a staff of about 50 people and the government was spending about a crore annually on their salaries alone, besides spending the same amount on the maintenance of the whole paraphernalia.
07/09/08 Alka Pande/Lucknow Newsline

New Delhi: The Indian aviation sector may have hit an air pocket because of an industry slowdown and rising airfares, but a leading travel and tourism training institute says this is temporary - the sector will boom, and jobs abound.
The Kuoni Academy of Travel, the Mumbai-based training institute that is part of the Kuoni Travel Group, has tied up with the Britain-based Cabin Crew Direct and the Dubai-based International Airline and Business Academy (IABA) to train cabin crew aspirants.
It is offering a four-month diploma course comprising 18 modules designed in association with leading international airlines to meet training standards across the world.
"We have tried to ensure that our courses meet the highest standards of quality. The tie-up with Cabin Crew Direct and IABA underlines our commitment to provide Indian students with world class content which can help them with their careers," Kuoni Academy principal Smeeta Gulvady said.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in its latest estimates, reckons India will be the driving force behind the world's civil aviation business that is globally expected to grow from $5.1 billion to $5.6 billion this year.
The current market size of the international air traffic in India is nearly $5 billion (Rs.21,000). Industry insiders forecast that it is expected to grow phenomenally, creating a huge need for skilled manpower.
"There is such a huge demand for cabin jobs and a vast number of such jobs are available - not necessarily in India at the moment due to temporary problems," John Ellis, chief executive officer of Cabin Crew Direct, told IANS in an email interview.
Ellis said Indians perform better as cabin crew than many nationalities across the globe because they are highly educated.
"They adapt well to training, they are very presentable, and India is the nation that speaks English best though it is not the country's first language," Ellis said.
05/09/08 IANS/Economic Times

In 1979, Susan Horstman became the first female pilot hired by Pan American World Airlines. Today, she is keeping one of Salt Lake City's busiest flight schools in the air. Horstman, 56, is Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Aviation, a privately owned flight school that specializes in training students who want any rating from sport pilot to airline transport pilot certification. The flight school operates facilities in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo, and controls a fleet of about 17 single- and multi-engine planes. “People are always going to fly,” Horstman said. She was referring to the recent national flap over exorbitant fuel prices, rising costs for air travel and industry job cut backs. According to published studies: “. . . domestic airfares are up this summer 12 percent to 15 percent and on some routes more than 200 percent.” Horstman said a flight student might spend as much $50,000 securing the accreditation to pursue an airline pilot position. New pilots typically earn a salary of only about $22,000, during their first year of probationary flying. Pay does, however, increase during a pilot's second year. Adding to the uncertainty is a highly publicized cloud of bankruptcy currently hanging over some national and regional airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the government agency that regulates and oversees all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S. Cornerstone Aviation is a FAA approved Part 141-flight-school, the highest rating given by the government agency. Horstman, however, isn't just circling in a holding pattern waiting for domestic airlines to heal from their current ills. She is reaching out to foreign markets to recruit students and expand her business. To that end, Horstman has begun enrolling students from India and China who will train for pilots' licenses in the Salt Lake City area. She said Cornerstone's international division offers a monthlong, pre-enrollment course to assure that the students can speak English well enough to complete their flying lessons. Even though the availability of airline jobs can serve as a gauge for the health of the industry, for some people, the call to fly is not solely determined by a push to make money.
05/09/08 Von Jones/Salt Lake Tribune, United States

Birla Institute of Technology,Mesra has signed an MOU with the Jamshedpur Cooperative Flying Club (JCFC) to establish a joint venture flying training institute that will provide the flying training required for a new three year B.Sc. (Aeronautical Sciences) degree course proposed to be offered at BIT. The MOU, which was signed by Shri Dulal Bhuiyan, Minister, Govt. of Jharkhand, on behalf of JCFC and Dr P. K. Barhai, Vice-Chancellor, BIT, Mesra is an initial step towards BIT introducing the new undergraduate degree course. The proposed new course will integrate a broad based education with the ground instruction and flying training prescribed by DGCA for the Commercial Pilots License (CPL), which is the basic license required by students aspiring to become commercial pilots.
In addition to the syllabus prescribed by DGCA for different licenses the curriculum for the proposed new course will include advanced training in the basic sciences and relevant engineering disciplines that will help students to understand how various factors affect the aircraft and its flight. Subjects like computer science, IT, environmental sciences, psychology, economics and management will be included in the curriculum with a view to develop a wide perspective and broad outlook that is required for the potential airline transport pilot to handle complex situations that he may be required to face on his own. The curriculum will give due attention to developing communication skills and honing students’ inter-personal skills and leadership qualities. A broad based education will also allow the pilots trained under BIT’s programme to take up management positions in the Aviation sector. Many leading universities in the developed countries offer such programmes but it will be the first of its kind in India.
The MOU with JCFC provides for the theoretical and laboratory classes to be conducted by BIT, Mesra and the flying training to be provided by the new joint venture flying training institute. The services of a British consultancy company are likely to be retained for advise on selection of aircraft, simulators and other equipment, recruitment of Flight Instructors, maintenance practices, logistics planning, ground operations, quality control and safety requirements.
The intake of students is proposed to be limited to 40 per year with 50% quota for students from Jharkhand and usual reservations for SC and ST categories. Additionally, students of SC /ST and BPL categories sponsored by Govt. of Jharkhand will also be admitted. Students will have two early exit options: the first after completing 2 semesters’ work including all flying training required for the Private Pilots License (PPL) and another after completing 4 semesters’ work including all flying training required for the CPL. Students who leave under the early exit options will be awarded appropriate diplomas instead of the B.Sc. degree, but they will be permitted to return within a stipulated period to complete the degree requirements.
04/09/08 Birla Institute of Technology

Provincial police have identified three men injured in a small plane crash Monday in central Ontario.
The men were in a single-engine Cessna that crashed into a farmer's field near Shelburne, northwest of Orangeville.
Police say the pilot, 20-year-old Vrushnek Patel, and a passenger, 22-year-old Matthew Jacob, remain at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto in serious condition.
The second passenger, 20-year-old Webster George, was treated and released from hospital.
Police have said two of the three men are from India.
The Cessna, which is owned by the Brampton Flying Club, took off from the Brampton airport Sunday and crashed a few hours later.
02/09/08 The Canadian Press/Toronto Star, Canada

DGCA has announced the schedule for Flight Dispatchers’ (FDEG) Examination, September, 2008 Session.
The examination will be conducted at New Delhi and Mumbai Centers only. The candidates appearing at Mumbai Centre, should contact the Office of Director of Airworthiness, Mumbai at
Telephone No 022 - 26157187 / 26157331 for Venue of Examination.The venue for FDEG Examination at Delhi Centre will be CEO, O/o DGCA, East Block – 3, R.K. Puram, New Delhi.
The list of candidates admitted for FDEG Examination shall be put on DGCA website by 05.09. 2008 and the candidates are advised to download the relevant page of their Roll Number as proof for admission into the Examination Hall. The candidates are also advised to display their Photo Identity Cards through out their examination.
26/08/08 DGCA

Computer numbers for flight crew examinations are allotted and the list is published here in the DGCA website.
Check the correctness of the data in the notification against your name including spellings. In case of any discrepancy, write to CEO immediately for necessary correction.
The examination fee has been revised @ Rs. 500/- per Paper Candidates are advised to download this page for record purposes.
The list of rejected candidates can be accessed here.
26/08/08 DGCA

To offer respite to students appearing for commercial pilot license (CPL), the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) has drafted a circular which relaxes the number of flying hours.
On August 6, 2008, after a meeting with the flying training institutes in India, DGCA proposed that the mandatory 50 hours flying experience prior to appearing for ground examination should be reduced to 25 hours. According to sources in DGCA, this was done basically to help the flying schools in the country.
“Many students go abroad to finish the 50 hour training and then return to give their ground training papers. After that they once again leave to complete the required 150 hours of flying,” said a DGCA official.
“Due to this, Indian flying institutes are losing out on students. So if they only need 25 hours of experience, then they will prefer to enroll in institutes in India rather than go abroad.”
A student takes at least two months to complete 25 hours of flying. However, few students and training institutes believe that the proposed draft will hardly change the situation.
“It is best that the DGCA does away with the required 25 hours also,” said Asha Mohan (name changed), a pilot for a private airline.
Mohan said it was preferable to first appear for the paper as it gave the student an indication whether he or she was capable of becoming a pilot. “... To complete 25 hours of flying you spend around Rs3 lakh. Imagine the amount of money that will go down the drain if you realise that you aren’t fit for the job.”
01/09/08 Navita Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Chennai: A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the future of the trainee pilots of Madras Flying Club (MFC), now in doldrums because of the dearth of instructors.
Two hundred students, no flying lessons, one chief flying instructor (CFI) who is not eligible to train freshers, three aircraft and just one commercial pilot licence holder (CPL) in the last five years: This is the status of the 78-year-old flying club, the oldest in the country.
The club on Sunday informed students that they are free to discontinue and go elsewhere if they wanted to finish their flying lessons quicker. "Those who want to finish their requirement for CPL in a speedier manner elsewhere should withdraw their membership and settle their accounts," says a notice put up on Sunday by the club at its premises. "This looks as if the club does not want us to continue here. Instead of solving the problem they are chasing us out," a student said.
According to students, even the November 2006 batch had not completed 10 hours of flying required to write the director general of civil aviation's (DGCA) examination to obtain Private Pilot License (PPL). The CFI is over 65 years old and is not eligible to teach flying lessons for students with no flying experience.
01/09/08 Times of India

Tumbling air traffic and aircraft utilisation have reduced demand for pilots, especially those holding commercial pilot licences (CPL), grounding many a dream.
Twenty-nine-year-old Pan-kaj Desai (name changed) was banking on the aviation boom to give wing to his dreams of becoming a pilot. He spent nearly Rs 20 lakh and has a letter of intent (to hire) from budget carrier SpiceJet.
Desai is still hunting for a job. He completed pilot training from The Professional Flight Centre based in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, in December last year, but his lack of experience is now coming in the way of securing a job with an airline.
Demand was outstripping supply last year. "Every CPL holder coming out of academies was being absorbed by the industry," said an industry insider. Desai is not alone. At least 100 other cadets are undergoing SpiceJet's pilot training with no hope of landing a job.
Full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines' pilot programme has also left an equal number in the lurch as passengers declined.
"As the (plane) utilisation falls, there is a corresponding dip in the demand for pilots," he reasoned, but added that SpiceJet has not laid off any pilot. A Kingfisher spokesperson dittoed.
"We believe this is a short-term phenomenon. That is why we are retaining them," Dhillon said.
01/09/08 Praveena Sharma/DNA MONEY/Sify