Aviation India: Careers

Varanasi: A trainer aircraft of Indira Gandhi Training Institute, Rae Bareli, crashed due to under-carriage while landing at Babatpur Airport on Monday afternoon. The trainee pilot had a narrow escape in this crash. The air traffic remained affected for an hour due to this incident.
According to in-charge airport director SV Satish, the training craft was landing at the airport when its nose wheel collapsed due to under-carriage around 12 noon. It led to blowing of crash siren and the fire tenders rushed towards the craft. Fortunately, the aircraft stopped after sliding on the air strip and the trainee pilot Raghu managed to come out.
Raghu, a Hyderabad-based trainee pilot, told TOI that his training had started two years back. It was the day of solo piloting for him. He said the aircraft was properly checked before taking off from the institute's strip. But, due to some technical snag, its nose wheel collapsed due to under-carriage while landing.
Due to the crash, landing of Delhi-Varanasi flight of Jet Airways was delayed by over half an hour. Its landing was allowed only after the removal of crashed aircraft from the runway.
30/03/09 Times of India

Jacksonville, FL: The corporate president, Dean Bradley, is pleased to begin introducing Quasar Aerospace Industries, Inc., formerly Equus Resources, Inc., to the public.
QAI is the holding company for a group of aviation related entities that by joining together help makes each of them more efficient and profitable. One of its wholly owned subsidiaries is Atlantic Aviation, Inc.
Atlantic Aviation, Inc. operates a flight school at Herlong Airport in Jacksonville, FL. It is presently negotiating with the Jacksonville Aviation Authority for a long-term lease to build a state of the art flight training facility. The facility will have a 14,000 sq. ft. maintenance hangar that will hold six aircraft, a 6,750 sq. ft. administration, training building, and ramp parking for 25 aircraft when completed.
AAI was formed to respond to a critical shortage of flight school capacity in Florida with a particular demand for training international students. Once the initial school is operational, the goal is to market this "School Concept" as a turn-key franchise opportunity to aviation professionals around the country.
Atlantic has signed a letter of intent with a group from India to train foreign flight students, and has submitted an application to the U. S. Secretary of State for approval for this operation. When the program begins, we will start adding ten students per month until we are fully operational with 60 students in training at all times at varying stages of training and a full capacity of 80 students. The program runs for approximately six months, and each student pays $66,000 for the full program. At full capacity this one school could generate approximately ten million dollars in revenue with margins ranging from 38-45%. The flight training program currently has eight students enrolled.
27/03/09 Comtex/Fox Business, USA

Mumbai: Domestic carriers may lose at least 100 pilots to Qatar Airways, which is on an expansion binge despite the economic downturn.
Other West Asian carriers such as Oman Air (SAOC), Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia PJSC have also been aggressively hiring pilots in India, with average pay increases of as much as 30%, according to at least half a dozen pilots with domestic carriers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Salaries of senior captains were between Rs7 lakh and Rs7.5 lakh a month in 2007-08, while slightly less experienced captains got Rs4.25-4.5 lakh. Salaries of co-pilots, or first officers, used to be Rs1.9-2 lakh a month. An aircraft needs two pilots in the cockpit,one senior pilot or commander and the other a co-pilot, who is also known as a first officer.
In the exodus, Jet Airways (India) Ltd is likely be hit the most, with at least 40—half of whom are senior pilots—deciding to jump ship, according to two senior Jet executives. Jet currently has about 800 pilots on its roster. Jet Airways chief executive officer Wolfgang Prock-Shcuaer did not return calls or respond to text messages to his cellphone.
The job offers come at a time when domestic airlines are negotiating with pilots for reducing salaries by up to 25%. Indian carriers face a collective loss of at least $2 billion (Rs10,100 crore) this fiscal year ending March because of excess capacity.
“...At least 40 pilots have indicated that they are leaving Jet Airways. And 50% of them are experienced senior pilots,” a Jet Airways pilot said on condition of anonymity.
Qatar Airways, on the other hand, is running an advertisement on its website calling for applications for captains and first officers. Earlier this year, the airline had two roadshows, one in January in New Delhi and in February in Mumbai, for fresh recruitment of Indian talent. “...Still, carriers need senior pilots, (at a time) they are looking to get rid of (surplus) first officers,” said an analyst tracking aviation stocks at a Mumbai-based domestic brokerage. “However, there is huge demand for all types of pilots for middle east carriers since they are going ahead with their expansion plans.”
According to the Sydney-headquartered Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an international aviation consulting firm, West Asian airlines are taking delivery of 50 widebody aircraft this year, accounting for 21% of total deliveries in 2009. These numbers could increase if loss-making Asian and European airlines defer or cancel some of their orders, it said.
This aggressive fleet expansion would mean increased demand for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.
The hiring spree from Qatar Airways comes on the back of a rapidly growing fleet; it is one of the world’s fastest growing network airlines.
The West Asian airline has been taking delivery of a new Boeing 777 practically every month since January, with plans to operate a fleet of at least 110 aircraft by 2013, which will largely have widebody craft.
Indian carriers, on the contrary, are cutting back as much as 15% on capacity.
The Jet pilot quoted earlier said Qatar’s package has better incentives such as medical cover for pilots and their families.
Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer of Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet, told Mint that his airline has lost a couple (of pilots) to West Asian carriers.
A person close to the development and involved in the recruitment process said these West Asian carriers have approached pilots with state-run National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, that runs Air India.
24/03/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

The major expansion plans by the West Asian carriers like the Qatar, Emirates, Etihad and Oman Air has led to a big time hiring from India and this will affect the Indian domestic carriers in a big way. At least 100 pilots employed by the Indian domestic carriers are estimated to be joining one of the West Asian carriers in lieu of better packages and incentives. Sources tell us that pilots inducted by the West Asian carriers have been promised a 30% pay hike on an average, more rest hours and options to choose flying hours.
Apart from the pay cuts, pilots employed by domestic carriers were unhappy about airlines cutting down capacity and flying hours. This exodus of pilots is slated to hit Jet Airways the maximum. Sources, close to this development in Jet Airways, believe that a minimum of 40 pilots including 20 senior pilots are quitting Jet Airways to join one of the West Asian carriers. Spice Jet has also confirmed losing some pilots to the West Asian carriers.
Qatar Airways is hiring big time from India because it has major fleet expansion plans in place. It has been taken delivery of one new Boeing 777 practically every month since January.
According to sources, West Asian carriers have also approached pilots employed with Air India.
24/03/09 CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

Bangalore: A joint venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and CAE has finalized all necessary contracts and non-recourse financing to begin construction and development of a new C$60 million (Rs 240 crore) helicopter training centre in Bangalore, India.
The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) the joint venture equally-owned by HAL and CAE, has secured long-term, non-recourse financing to support the development of the HATSOFF Helicopter Training Centre. HATSOFF will have a CAE-built full-mission simulator featuring CAE's revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator. HATSOFF expects to begin training at a new purpose-built facility in the second half of 2010. When fully operational, HATSOFF will be able to train up to 400 helicopter pilots each year and expects to generate annual revenues of up to approximately C$20 million (Rs 80 crore).
Initially, HATSOFF will offer comprehensive training to civil and military customers operating four helicopter types: the Indian Army/Air Force variant of the HAL-built Dhruv, the civil variant of the Dhruv, the Bell 412 and the Eurocopter Dauphin. The training centre will feature multimedia classrooms, computer-based training, brief/debrief facilities, and a training management information system. The CAE-built full-mission simulator for HATSOFF will feature a common motion system, vibration platform, and visual display system, and four separate cockpit modules that can be used in the full-mission simulator. When a cockpit is not used in the full-mission simulator, it will be used as a fixed-based flight training device. The simulator will be certified to Federal Aviation Administration and Joint Aviation Authority Level D, the highest qualification for flight simulators.
CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe. With annual revenues exceeding C$1.4 billion, CAE employs approximately 7,000 people at more than 75 sites and training locations in 20 countries.
23/03/09 Comtex/Market Wire/Fox Business.com

DGCA has published the schedule of Flight Dispatchers’ (FDEG) Examination, March, 2009 session to be conducted on 24, 25 and 26 March.
See the schedule here.
The reject list is here.
23/03/09 DGCA

Chennai: Paramount Airways is reportedly running short of pilots with at least a dozen of the foreign pilots, brought in to fly the Embraer aircraft for salaries higher than their Indian counterparts, leaving the company in recent times for various reasons.
While airport authority sources confirmed that the airline is facing a shortage of pilots, a top Paramount official claimed that the airline has 35 captains and about 65 first officers on its rolls.
But for an airline that operates to at least 12 destinations with a mandatory requirement of 25 captains, there are only 16 reporting for duty, airport sources said.
Insiders say the sudden dearth of pilots was due to huge exodus of foreign pilots, who had come from countries like Columbia, Kenya, Venezuela, and parts of America.
When the airline was launched, there were no Indians trained in flying the Brazilian-made aircraft and the company employed the foreigners for huge salaries _ captains draw Rs nine lakh per month for flying narrow body aircraft and Rs 11 lakh for wide body aircraft.
Subsequently, Indian pilots were trained and taken in as captains. In the case of first officers, 18 of them recently joined Paramount after coughing up Rs 25 lakh for their training.
But most of the first officers are yet to clear the exams conducted by DGCA to become captains.
21/03/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

It has emerged that the flight attendant who recently committed suicide had preferred the excruciating finality to an inquiry that could have been initiated by her airline into her unexplained absence - for just one work shift. It is a tragedy and a shame that should not be ignored. The suicide represents to me the sense of shock encoded in an image that the literary types love: a gunshot in the concert hall.
The self-lavished puffery of the Indian service industry is the concert hall, and the death of the flight attendant is the gunshot. Airlines oppress their employees into the stupor of perennial cheer. Even an infinitesimal droop in the winsome smile of graciousness is not tolerated. I know because I have friends on both sides of the counter. My frequent-flying friends have told me how easy it has become to send to an airline a detailed log of every perceived slight handed down by an airhostess. "You log in to an airline's web site and wreck a career," a friend, the marketing head of an IT firm told me. "It is as easy as that!"
On the other hand, a senior flight stewardess, whom I have known for some time, explained the abrasive frustration of her profession.
"Once I accidentally spilled coffee on a passenger and began to profusely apologise," she told me. "He seemed very nice and said I should forget it. Just as I was about to turn away in relief, he said,
'Baby, you can give me your phone number though.' He was leering. I nearly lost it." She told me that she held her tears back because she could not let out a sentiment that was crushing her. She said: "I wanted to tell him, 'You ugly piece of junk, why don't I pay your dry-cleaning bill instead'; but of course I could not."
If the airlines focus on efficiency rather than brutally whipping their flight attendants into unnatural solicitousness, they will relieve some of the stress their young, and dangerously nervous employees feel.
21/03/09 N Raghuraman/Daily News & Analysis

Mumbai: Quick relationships, quicker break-ups, problems with adjusting to partners who pursue other professions and, sometimes, even bigger problems when adjusting to those within the same fraternity. These are some of the personal challenges that those who work for airline flight crews face.
Living out of a suitcase can lead to an "indisciplined'' lifestyle and a lot of stress, say cabin crew and cockpit staff. It also leads to break-ups in relationships.
Since most of a person's time is spent with colleagues rather than family and friends, a lot of relationships-both short and long term-mushroom very quickly.
"It is hard to develop a relationship with someone who is not a flight crew member. People from other professions might not be as receptive to the clock we follow,'' said an airhostess for Jet Airways. "Relationships within the industry usually develop very quickly but fail to stand the test of the stress this profession creates. This is because bonds develop for no other reason than you may happen to be staying at the same place for several days,'' the flight attendant added. She said she hardly gets 10 days a month to be with family and friends.
However, crew members said that while there are instances of successful relationships developing, they are much fewer than the bonds that snap. "Couples may grow close in an unusual setting, but later break up when they learn more about a person's habits or the way they deal with colleagues,'' said a Kingfisher flight attendant.
Pilots and flight attendants may also meet regularly over a particular shift, but face problems finding time together when schedules change.
19/03/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Getting ready to launch operations by the middle of this year, Dubai's first budget carrier, flydubai, has completed the selection process of its pilots and crew.
The airline said yesterday it has received over 11,500 applications from flight and cabin crew over the past few months, besides having screened over 8,000 candidates for pilots alone. "Of that, 61 captains and 18 first officers, representing more than 12 nationalities, have been selected," flydubai said in a statement.
The carrier which said last week it would kick off operations from Dubai International airport's terminal two, has so far employed 80 cabin crew from the 3,500 applications received. "The first group of 21 cabin crew and 24 captains are currently undergoing training in preparation for flydubai's launch in a few months' time," the airline said in the statement.
"Of the pilots we have on board, each have, on average, more than 4,000 hours serving as captain in similar aircraft and a total experience of more than 8,000 flying hours – this is impressive by any standard," said Kenneth Gile, flydubai's Chief Operating Officer, adding that candidate screening and selection is now complete.
Flydubai will operate a fleet of new next-generation Boeing 737-800s, each with 189 economy class seats.
The airline said the information about the initial routes would be announced shortly, with routes including destinations within 4.5 hours flying time from Dubai.
The airline said last week its operations team is currently finalising routes, which are likely to include the Indian subcontinent, North and East Africas, southeast Europe and the Middle East.
19/03/09 Emirates Business 24-7, UAE

Bangalore: Desi jobless pilots now have a reason to smile. The recent directive to replace foreign pilots with Indian pilots by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) can drive away their job-related blues.
According to the aviation industrial data, there are around 1,000 foreign pilots working for different airlines in India. Moreover, national carrier Air India is on a hiring spree. This year, Air India plans to hire 30-40 pilots every three months and to induct 30 new aircraft (including replacements) during the fiscal year 2009-2010.
Ashotosh Agarwal, who has a licence from a Canadian flying school is now hopeful. “With the directives of DGCA and openings at Air India and more Indian airlines companies in an expansion mode, it seems that most trained pilots will now find jobs.” Speaking to the Express, Himang Tripati of Acumen School of Pilot Training (ASPT) said, “This directive has boosted the number of aspirants.” He claims that the number of applications in past two months have gone up. In the past two months, we have got more than 45 applications. Even flying schools abroad are also cashing in on this.” Last month, Pacific Aviation Academy from British Columbia conducted a workshop in Bangalore and they received a good response.
16/03/09 Mohammed Shariff/ExpressBuzz

Mumbai: Khan, 24, had joined Jet Airways India Ltd as a trainee cabin crew member last September, only to be laid off a month later as the airline retrenched 1,900 employees to counter the worst slowdown in the domestic aviation industry.
He was reinstated a day later as Jet retracted its decision, and Khan’s happy now assisting business class passengers to the lounge at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport while they wait for their flights. It’s a temporary assignment and he doesn’t mind so much that he’s not flying.
Khan did not want his first name taken in this report.
Typically, cabin crew members earn additional allowances for working on late shifts or flying outside the country.
Jet, which jostles with rival Kingfisher Airlines Ltd for the top spot among airlines in the country by passengers flown, last month started deputing some of its cabin crew on airport duty by turns for two weeks to a month, making use of its surplus cabin crew as it slammed the brakes on its international expansion and reduced domestic flights by at least 15%.
“There are excess cabin crew with our capacity rationalization and shortage of ground staff owing to the freeze in the recruitment process,” another Jet executive said on condition of anonymity. “In order to retain them and extend better customer services, we are deploying them at airports for assisting passengers, smoothening check-in process and taking feedback.”
A Jet spokeswoman only said the decision was aimed at enhancing the level of service at airports.
Kingfisher, which has also postponed expansion on its international routes and is reducing its domestic flights, is also contemplating a move similar to Jet’s staff redeployment, according to a senior company executive.
National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which runs Air India, is also redeploying its staff but as part of integrating Air-India and Indian Airlines, which had merged in 2007 to form the larger company.
Other low fare carriers in India—including GoAir, SpiceJet and IndiGo—say they already maintain lean staffing.
Not all airlines have attempted such redeployment of staff. Leading European airlines, including Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, have issued termination notices to some cabin crew in India as they are reducing flights to India.
15/03/09 P. R. Sanjai/Livemint

The Middle East airlines might once again prove to the life line for Indian pilots, as Indian private airlines, which had earlier cut capacity, are now negotiating with pilots and engineers to lower their wages by 20 to 25 per cent.
There are however, a few options open for Indian pilots as Middle East, Korea and China continue to hire, according to a report in India's Mint newspaper.
Middle East airlines, which have had a huge fleet expansion in the works, might prove to be a ray of hope for the flight deck personnel during this current downturn as they continue to hire not just in India but also from other international markets, the spokespersons of airlines said. Though other markets are hiring, Middle East has always been attractive because of its proximity to the subcontinent.
Captain Steve Freeman of Futureairlinepilots.com, a pilot recruitment firm told Emirates Business: "The economic downturn has proved difficult for airlines in Europe and US, more so than the Middle East."
Airline spokesmen said that the airlines continued to hire pilots, co-pilots and engineers. The websites of Air Arabia, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates confirm vacancies for flight deck personnel.
Freeman said: "Those countries and markets that are still recruiting of course include the Middle East, along with the Far East, Korea, India, Africa. Particular airlines which are hiring this month include Korean Air, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, Oman Air and Shenzhen.
Freeman said: "Business travel has reduced markedly, more companies are looking to cut costs and this directly affects the airlines. This includes business aviation as well as private hire.
"There was a glut of start-up operations around 12 to 18 months ago and these have reduced to very few if none. Having said this, there are still companies starting in the airline industry.
"However time will only tell if they can make a success in a very demanding market place. Start-ups in the last 12 months include Air Sylhet, Amsterdam, Arik, Athens Airways, Bahrainair, Bremen and Fly Dubai. Clearly from this you can see that new as well as recruiting companies are predominantly from the Middle East and Africa. India is bit of a mixed bag at the moment.
"The private carriers have cut capacity, deferred aircraft delivery while the state-owned airline Air-India is continuing with its expansion and is hiring pilots," an airline industry analyst said.
According to the Mint: "The private airlines are renegotiating with pilots for cutting their salaries by 25 per cent. They have, in fact, already started slashing allowances and other benefits," said a senior pilot. Executives from three different airlines confirmed the development.
15/03/09 EmiratesBusiness24-7, UAE

New Delhi: The poaching war among domestic air carriers is not over yet. IndiGo is upset with its biggest rival SpiceJet for recruiting many of its employees. In an informal message to the company, IndiGo has asked SpiceJet not hire its employees.
SpiceJet has hired about three-four employees at the level of general managers, project heads, who were working with the IndiGo. “They have asked us not to target their employees, which is not at all the case with us. We had not approached these people on our own,” a senior SpiceJet official.
The carrier has recently said that it was looking for various senior level executives including the chief financial officer, heads of human resource, marketing departments. In addition, the company is also looking at hiring about 60 pilots and an equivalent number of employees for various levels in the next fiscal.
“It’s relatively easier to hire people in today’s scenario. We have got very good resumes for our high-level posts. We will soon take a final call,” Sanjay Aggarwal, the CEO of SpiceJet had said.
The SpiceJet official said that the message from the IndiGo came as a surprise as the company has hired so many senior officials of the SpiceJet in the past. “They had poached more than a dozen of our employees in the past including our former CEO Siddhanta Sharma, Sanjay Kumar (vice-president, sales and marketing). They had offered almost a 100 per cent hike to our employees,” said the official. He said the company has hired new employees at the normal hike of about 30 per cent.
Poaching, according to the recruitment industry experts, makes good sense in terms of business as the candidate doesn’t require training.
12/03/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

Singapore: If being a pilot is your dream job, one of Asia's fastest-growing budget airlines is seeking staff via an online contest, and no flying experience is necessary.
In a competition similar to the "Best Job in the World" contest to find a caretaker for a tropical Australian island, Malaysian airline AirAsia has launched an online plea for pilots, asking candidates to blog why they should get the job.
"So YOU wanna be a pilot? Simple. What do you have to do? Blog. What? That's it? Yes, you're reading it right. Blog," AirAsia said on its official website.
The airline said 10 finalists will be selected, and they will take part in the first round of AirAsia's new pilot intake, which involves spending a day with pilots at the AirAsia Academy.
Bloggers will only be considered if they meet minimum requirements, which include being aged between 18 and 28, having a good command of English and Bahasa Malaysia and being mentally and physically fit, with good eye sight, the website said.
The competition runs from April 1 to May 15th.
In a spoof video blog entry intended to inspire applicants, airline staff list their reasons for wanting to become a pilot.
13/03/09 Reuters/CIOL.com

New Delhi: Jobless pilots in the country have a reason to cheer. After the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) directive to replace foreign pilots with their Indian counterparts by July 31 2010, commercial pilot licence (CPL) holders will be in demand.
At present, there are around 1,000 foreign pilots working for different airlines in India. Also Air India is on a hiring spree. “This year, we plan to hire 30-40 pilots every three months and to induct 30 new aircraft (including the replacements) during the fiscal 2009-2010,” said Jeetendra Bhargava, executive director, corporate communications, Air India.
The directive has also favoured flying schools. Acumen School of Pilot Training (ASPT) claims the number of applications in past two months have gone up. “In past two months, we have got more than 45 applications,” said Chandni Chawla, ASPT’s business head. Even the flying schools abroad are also chasing in on this. Recently, Pacific Aviation Academy from British Columbia held a workshop in the Capital and received a huge response.
But DGCA has a word of caution. Charan Das, Deputy Director General, DGCA, said: “One shouldn’t expect a big turnaround unless airline companies get in the expansion mode, which is not happening as of now.”
10/03/09 Vimal Joshi/Hindustan Times

Kochi: Cochin International Airport Ltd. (Cial) is setting up an aviation academy offering courses in aviation management and technology in association with Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou). Cial MD Dr C G Krishnadas Nair said this is the first time an airport is starting an aviation academy offering specialized programmes that are not provided by any university in the country now.
Cial, the fourth busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic, has entered into an agreement with Ignou. The certificates, diploma and degree programmes offered by Cial Academy under the patronage of Ignou will be recognized all over the world as the latter has a global reach, Mr Nair said.
The academy will offer various certificate and advanced diploma programmes in diverse fields like airport ramp handling, rescue and fire fighting, airport operations management, air cargo management, security management, retail management etc. In addition, there will be under graduate courses like BTech in airport infrastructure engineering and aircraft manufacture and maintenance engineering and PG programmes like MBA in aviation business management and MTech in airport infrastructure engineering.
Cial hopes to start the courses from July this year by finalizing the syllabi in consultation with Ignou. The fee structure is also yet to be determined. The academy will be spread over 35,000 sq ft. in two floors. This will accommodate 25 to 30 classrooms. There is provision to go for more floors when the situation demands.
09/03/09 P K Krishnakumar/Economic Times

Mumbai: In a bid to cut costs and stay in the skies, beleaguered domestic airlines are finally paring the salaries of pilots and engineers, who were highly prized because there weren’t enough of them when many new private carriers started operations a few years ago. The private airlines are negotiating with pilots and engineers to lower their wages by 20-25%.
Leading West Asian carriers are sensing this as an opportunity to tap Indian pilots and engineers.
National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, that runs Air India, however, has no plans to lower pilots’ salaries. In fact, they have got a marginal raise following the revision of public sector salary following the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.
The domestic private carriers are trying to cut costs as they are expected to post a combined loss of $2 billion (around Rs10,000 crore) in this fiscal due to overcapacity and high jet fuel charges. Besides, pilots, especially the first officers or co-pilots, are increasingly a becoming surplus commodity as the carriers are cancelling or deferring the delivery of new aircraft and pulling out existing flights. A plane is steered by a commander and a co-pilot.
“The private airlines are renegotiating with pilots for cutting their salaries by 25%. They have, in fact, already started slashing allowances and other benefits,” said a senior pilot, who did not want to be identified considering the sensitivity of the issue. This pilot works with a leading private airline and is involved in the wage negotiations with his management.
Executives from three different airlines confirmed the development on condition of anonymity. “We are talking to them (the pilots and engineers) for a cut. If not a direct wage cut, we are trying to abolish some allowances,” one executive said.
Salaries of senior captains were in the range of Rs7-7.5 lakh a month in 2007-08 while the not-so-experienced captains used to draw Rs4.25-4.50 lakh. Salaries of co-pilots, or first officers, used to be Rs1.9-2 lakh a month.
None of the domestic carriers is keen on renewing the contract of foreign pilots as per the mandate by the ministry of civil aviation to phase them out by 2010. The ministry has laid down this norm to create more job opportunities for Indian pilots.
There are around 3,500 Indian pilots and 550 foreign pilots.
08/03/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

The schedule for Flight Dispatchers' (FDEG) examination March 2009 session is published at the DGCA site. The exams are on 24, 25 & 26 of March.
See the detailed schedule here.

Result of the Pilot Licence Examination January 2009 session is published by the DGCA.
The list contains the results of those candidates who were admitted and have appeared in Pilots Licence Written Examination, January 2009 Session.
The results can be downloaded from here or here.

The last date of submission of duly completed application form for Pilots Licence Written Examination, April, 2009 Session is 16th March 2009. The tentative examination dates for April, 2009 Session are 27th, 28th, 29th April, 2009.
The fees for Written Examination is Rs.500/- Per Paper. The Demand Draft should be drawn in favour of “PAO, DGCA, MCA, New Delhi”. Demand Draft should be valid for 6 months from the date of issue and drawn on any scheduled bank in India. The Demand Draft should not be drawn 30 days prior to the date of submission of application.
Candidates are advised to mention their Computer Number, Name and Session of examination on the back of the Demand Draft. Combined Demand Draft shall not be accepted in case of individual candidates including Private, Defence etc.
Application is to be submitted on CA-9 (Pilot) Rev., July, 2007 Form only. Application Form is available here in the DGCA Website. It may also be downloaded from here.
(Ahmedabad Centre for Written Examinations has been temporarily discontinued. Candidates are advised to choose other Centres).
06/03/09 DGCA

A young student pilot crashed at the Crystal River Airport shortly after noon today while attempting a touch-and-go landing.
The female pilot, Nirali Bhati, 18, of India is an aviation student with the Orlando Flight Training school in Kissimmee.
She left Orlando this morning on a training flight, which took her first to Ocala. She did a touch-and-go there with no difficulties in her Cessna 152 single-engine plane. Her next stop was Crystal River, where she was to perform another touch-and-go.
She came down hard, losing control of the plane. It slid off the tarmac into a grassy area, which caused the nose wheel to collapse. The propeller then struck the ground, swinging the plane around and causing the tip of the left wing to strike the tarmac. The plane came to rest with its nose down.
The young pilot blacked out during the incident itself, but suffered no injuries.
Damage to the plane is estimated at $15,000, and the Federal Aviation Administration was notified, and will investigate the incident further at a later date.
05/03/09 Robby Douglas/Citrus Daily, USA

NACIL-A(Air-India) invites applications for the post of Trainee Pilot from Indian Citizens (wherever domiciled) belonging to the General category and Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe / Other Backward Class Community fulfilling the following requirements to fill up the existing vacancies.
Number of Vacancies : 40 (GEN : 21 SC :06 ST :03 OBC :10)
Qualifications :
Academic : Minimum education of H.S.C. (10+2) or equivalent. (Graduates in Engineering or B.Sc. (Maths and Physics) / B.Sc. (Aviation) will be given due weightage.)
Technical : Commercial Pilot’s Licence, issued by Director General of Civil Aviation, Govt of India which should be current at the time of application. (Candidates with higher licences and endorsements can also apply.).
Upper Age Limit :
* 35 years for GEN & Abinitio CPL holders
* 40 years for SC/ST & 38 years for OBC candidates as on 01.02.2009.
* 45 years for Pilots holding either of the following : ALTP Licence, or;
A minimum total of 1500 hours in Command, on multi engine Turbo prop/ jet/fan, or fighter aircraft, or;)
A minimum total of 2000 hours as a First Officer in a recognized airline on multiengine turbo-prop/jet/fan aircraft.
Note: Ex Servicemen will be given age relaxation as per Govt. rules
Minimum Height Standard :
Minimum height requirement is 152.5cms.
Note: Candidates between heights of (152.5 cms) and (162.5 cms) will be accepted, subject to successful ergonomic assessment check on Simulator in the presence of Company Medical Officer.
Selection Procedure :
Eligible candidates will be required to appear for written test followed by Psychometric Evaluation and personal interview (all at Mumbai) at candidate’s own expenses. Candidates short-listed after personal interview will be required to undergo Simulator/Flight Proficiency Assessment Check. Cost of Simulator Check of Rs.10,000/- will be borne by the GEN/OBC candidates. This amount should be paid in the form of Demand Draft/Postal Order in favour of Air-India, Mumbai, prior to the Simulator Assessment Check. Short-listed (Selected) candidates will have to undergo Company Medical examination.
Cost of Training :
Candidates selected as Trainee Pilots are required to give post dated cheques of Rs.25 lakhs towards the training cost which will be encashed if he/she does not complete a period of 5 years of service in Air-India and will have to execute an Agreement/Surety Bond to satisfactorily complete the training and serve Air India Limited for a period of atleast 5 years on being absorbed as Co-Pilot. Selected candidates will also have to execute Performance Bond after completion of each subsequent training/endorsement as stated in the Agreement which he executes on appointment.
Remuneration :
Trainee Pilots will be paid a stipend of Rs.25,000/- per month during their training period. On successful completion of training and on obtaining endorsement on stipulated aircraft in the fleet of Air-India, they will be appointed as Co-Pilot in the pay scale of Rs.15200-275-16300-350-17000-400-19000 on completion of stipulated conditions.
How to Apply :
Candidates meeting the above requirements may apply on plain paper (typed) as per the prescribed format. Applications should be forwarded to the Executive Director Operations-II, Operations Department, Air-India, Old Airport, Santa Cruz (East), Mumbai-400 029. GEN and OBC candidates should submit a non-refundable fee of Rs. 500/- in the form of Demand Draft drawn in favour of Air-India, Mumbai payable at Mumbai alongwith their application. SC/ST candidates are exempted from payment of this fee. Application should be accompanied with 2 recent passport size photographs (1 fixed on the format in the space provided).
Pl. see the full notification with all details, published by Air India here.
The format of application can be downloaded from here or here.
02/03/09 Air India

Mumbai: Seva Mandal Education Society (SMES), a 52 year-old trust dedicated to empowerment of women through education, in collaboration with Livewire Training & Management Services Pvt. Ltd (LTMS) recently launched Aviation Careers Academy (ACA) to provide deserving but underprivileged, aspiring women with an opportunity to make careers in aviation, hospitality and travel and tourism. Talking to TravelBiz Monitor about the uniqueness of the academy in comparison to ones existing already, Kiran Yadav, Advisor, Livewire Training & Management Service Pvt. Ltd. (LTMS) said, “ACA will provide its students with a state-of-the-art facility with an infrastructure that boasts of the latest Airbus 320 aircraft mock-up fitted with modern gadgets like high sensitivity cameras, projectors etc. The students will be able to observe their activities through camera recordings and hence improve on their personality development. The courses offered are affordable at Rs 50,000 for the cabin crew training and Rs 25,000 for the travel agent training, which is one third the price of what other academies charge.”
The travel trade representatives who will work in association with the academy to provide efficient training to the students include GDS’s Galileo, Worldspan and online travel agent, Travelocity. ACA, according to Yadav, will have a committed team of senior airline professionals from airlines like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines who will share their knowledge with the students during the training. He further added that the Indian travel trade associations like Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) through their association with ACA will benefit from trained and well-informed agents needed to satisfy the current manpower crunch in the industry and vice-versa.
28/02/09 Khushboo Sahrawat/TravelBiz Monitor