Aviation India: Careers

Armed with nearly 25 years of experience as an air traffic controller,MG Junghare, the head of air traffic management of Mumbai airport, seems to be the right person at the right job. With an uncluttered desk and a smile on his face, he deftly handles calls from his staff, his superiors and of course the VIPs.
Junghare wanted to be a pilot. However, due to want of funds required for pilot training, he could not fulfill his wish. However, his liking for the field of aviation brought him into the field of air traffic control. Joining as an aerodrome officer in civil aviation department of government of India in 1985, Junghare has risen through the ranks of bureaucracy to be the chief of air traffic control services at Mumbai airport since 2005. He is proud to handle a team of 220 officers under him who ensure a flight movement happens every few minutes without any possibility of error.
The job of an air traffic controller (ATC) involves operating the air traffic control systems round-the-clock to expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic and prevent mid-air collisions. It is an unenviable job that calls for lot of attention and precision and any lapse may mean an unrecoverable loss of life and property.
The fact that one has to take control of the movement of an aircraft with hundreds of passengers and crew in it is itself an unnerving thought. Most research studies therefore rate the job of an air traffic controller (ATC) as the most stressful one.
The ATC men at Mumbai airport — looking smart in blue uniforms — work round the clock in three shifts. While the night time is relatively less hectic, morning hours are peak time for departing flights while late evening is peak period for arrivals.
Besides monitoring the flights plying to and fro from the airport, the office of ATC is also responsible for monitoring the movements of the flight passing through the Mumbai airspace. The radar section is the most critical division of the office of ATC, which recruits officers who are typically below 40 and have more than 10-12 years of experience under their belt.
The division is manned by three officers at any given point of time - with two of them on the job with one extra officer pitched in to relieve each of them during their breaks that are taken every 60 minutes.
While the studies rate the ATC’s job to be highly stressful, Junghare does not feel it to be so. According to him, there is no job in the world which is stress-free, so why complain? Moreover, while he acknowledges the stress of the job, he admits that it has now become a part of his living.
Rather he sheepishly reveals that absence of stress is unnerving for him and his team of ATCs.
While the rigour and stress of the job may not be apparent while speaking to a veteran like Junghare — one can realise it while he narrates his own experience as an ATC stationed in the radar division. Right from frequent urination to having more cups of tea or coffee to compulsive smoking — ATCs, especially the freshers, face it all.
Till some years ago, smoking was quite rampant in the radar room. Junghare, who was a chain smoker himself, still reminisces his boss’s words that ‘you couldn’t be said to successfully control an aircraft unless you have also enjoyed smoking two cigarettes while doing so’! Junghare, who quit smoking one fine day on May 23rd 2005, says that he has been doing yoga and self-hypnosis to de-stress himself.
The man, who is not willing to reveal his age when asked about retirement, is not yet ready to hang up his boots yet. He is proud to be heading the ATC division of the airport of the country’s financial capital and is enjoying every moment of it.
From keeping his team alert and motivated to being accountable to his higher ups for any glitches or delays to employing diplomacy in handling the VIPs — his job demands it all. He feels like a CEO handling an enterprise which has to service its customers well and also see that the revenues keep trickling in. However, he has not forgotten his roots. Even today, Junghare misses his days as a radar officer and likes to catch the action in the radar room whenever he finds time.
29/12/09 Kiran Kabtta Somvanshi/Economic Times

Gondia: An aircraft with two trainee pilots on board today skidded off the runway after one of its tyres burst while landing at the Birsi Airport here, police said.
The trainees from the Indira Gandhi Rastriya Udaan Academy (IGRUA), Rae Bareilly were unhurt in the incident, though the aircraft was badly damaged, they said.
The mishap occurred this evening when the two pilots were flying a Zlien VT-ICON aircraft as part of a training session.
23./12/09 Press Trust of India

New Delhi: The cabin crew of Alliance Airlines will not be terminated though its Boeing aircraft will be used as freighters, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed Rajya Sabha today.
"Alliance Airlines' staff strength has come down as its domestic and international role has reduced and that of Air India has increased.
"In the larger interest of employees, we have made an arrangement where they can work for Air India. It is a fair arrangement in their interest," he said adding around 45 cabin crew working on Alliance Airlines' Boeing aircraft have been redeployed so as not to terminate their services.
Patel said during the Question Hour that the aim of the ministry was to bring all staffers under same set of rules.
15/12/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has added yet another top-end course to its bouquet of pioneering front line academic programmes.
Tying up with CIAL (Cochin International Airport Ltd) Academy, IGNOU now offers MBA and other courses in Aviation and Airport Infrastructure Technology and Management.
It was on September 25 that Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan dedicated the CIAL Academy to the nation.
The first batch of classes has also just begun. Built at a cost of around Rs.6 crore, CIAL Academy is situated close to the airport, opposite the state of the art Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility, which is fast nearing completion.
The programmes that are being offered include a two-year MBA programme, and a one-year Advanced Diploma Courses in: (a) Airport Operations Management, and, (b) Air Cargo Management; and six-month Certificate Courses in: (a) Airport Ramp Handling, (b) Rescue and Fire Fighting, and (c) Security and Intelligence.
Besides imparting knowledge in aviation management and aviation technology, CIAL Academy aims to become a centre of excellence and help promote professional and industry-oriented education by collaborating with specialized institutions.
Bubbling with enthusiasm was Jaya Paul, a graduate in Geography and a student of the first batch of the MBA programme, who aspires to be "the best manager in the aviation industry."
The academy is unique in many ways because the teaching faculty includes professionals purely from the aviation industry.
Over 90 percent of the faculty comes from within CIAL, experts who handle various departments of the airport.
T.S. Gopi, the Academy's Director, says, "There may be other institutes offering such courses, but they can only give theoretical exposure. The students here will, from Day One, have on-the-job classroom training and get the feel of working out of an airport."
CIAL Academy considered various options and felt that IGNOU was the best bet for more reasons than one. The most important --- as it aimed to offer top-line management programmes, it felt IGNOU had the requisite expertise.
A.C.K. Nair, Airport Director, CIAL, who has close to two decades experience of working in various airports in the country, says that trained and qualified man-power is a lacunae when it comes to airport operations and that the new academy will produce quality professionals.
In view of the academy's potential, the Kerala Government has recently allotted an additional five acres of land on the highway even as more infrastructure plans are being worked out for the academy.
14/12/09 INDIA edunews.NET

Mumbai: Air India has convened a meeting of foreign pilots’ recruitment agencies on Wednesday to discuss its proposal to slash wages by 10%, in its bid to reduce costs and the differences between the pay packets of Indian and foreign pilots.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of the agencies opposing any unilateral move on lowering foreign pilots’ wages and allowances and demanding negotiations before any such decision being implemented.
The agencies, supplying foreign pilots to the national carrier, have also asked the management not to go ahead with its plan of implementing the proposal from January 1.
Nacil had said a Boeing-737 commanding pilot is paid $10,000, while a B-777 commander $12,700, a B-747 and Airbus A-310 commander get $8,750 as salary.
They also get an annual bonus of $12,000, $13,000 and $15,000 on completion of one, two and three/four years in service respectively.
In addition, the company spends up to Rs7,500 per day to accommodate them in hotels and provide chauffeur-driven AC cars for non-flying duties as well.
Air India has around 153 foreign pilots, besides 1,253 Indian pilots and about 200 trainees.
The expat pilots are paid through approved agencies which are given a monthly fee. The national carrier hires expat pilots through global pilots recruitment agencies like Rishworth Aviation Ltd, Sigma, EDL (Economic Dynamics), Aviator, N.G.Aviation, Tital and Next Gen, with the first three providing over 90% of foreign pilots.
13/12/09 PTI/Live Mint

Ojai, California, USA: A student pilot from India was practicing emergency maneuvers with an experienced instructor during a Thursday training flight before their plane crashed in Ojai, killing them both, the flight school’s co-owner said Friday.
Amit Ahire, 19, and Richard Anthony Prado, 51, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash about 2:30 p.m. Thursday near Krotona Road on the campus of the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, said Armando Chavez, a county senior deputy medical examiner. Both men died of blunt-force injuries, autopsies determined.
It will likely be months before authorities officially determine what caused the crash, but some details emerged Friday from investigators and friends.
Ahire had come to the United States from a small village in India to earn his pilot’s wings at Aviation Pacific Inc., a flight school at the Camarillo Airport. He had been living in Oxnard only since Nov. 12, Chavez said.
With about 15 hours of air experience recorded during his two weeks of training, Ahire was on his fifth flight when he was killed, said Andrea Bortolon, co-owner of Aviation Pacific.
Hours before he died, Ahire was given his first set of headphones, a badge of honor among students that signals they are on their way to becoming pilots, Bortolon said.
The lesson of the day was practicing emergency maneuvers, including emergency landings and how to fly at low altitude, Bortolon said. Typically, that lesson includes putting the plane in idle and cutting the power, among other moves.
“If you go too slow, the plane’s nose can go down; that might be what happened,” Bortolon said, although adding that any number of unknown factors could have caused the crash.
The two-seat Piper Tomahawk left the Camarillo Airport about 1:30 p.m. Witnesses told Ventura County sheriff’s investigators the plane appeared to be having engine trouble before it went into a nose dive and hit the ground on a private road next to a group of homes. No injuries were reported on the ground, and no structures were damaged.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Aviation Pacific had no major safety violations, although the FAA issued two minor administrative sanctions over the past two years, Gregor said. The sanctions involved a violation of an advertising regulation and a maintenance record issue.
Ahire was among a group of foreign students learning how to fly at Aviation Pacific. With offices in Mumbai, India, and Camarillo, the school specializes in training foreigners to fly, especially students from India.
11/12/09 Zeke Barlow, Adam Foxman/Ventura County Star, Camarillo, California, USA

Andrea Bortolon knew opening a flight school was going to be a challenge, but when he decided to start one at the Camarillo Airport and train students from India, the Middle East and Europe, a whole new set of obstacles arose.
There are the twice-a-year checks by the Transportation Security Administration, the long wait for students to get visas and the occasional suspicious eye from people wanting to know why, in a post-Sept. 11 world, Middle Eastern-looking people are here learning to fly planes.
“It’s really hard, because everyone is a sheriff now,” said Bortolon, 41, co-owner of Aviation Pacific Inc.
But since opening for business in 2005, his experience has been good running one of the roughly 100 U.S. flight schools that train foreigners — until Thursday’s tragedy. One of Bortolon’s planes crashed in Ojai, killing the teacher and a new student who had come from a small village in India to learn to fly.
Amit Ahire, 19, was one of more than 100 students at Bortolon’s school, which specializes in serving students from India. It was Ahire’s fifth flight in what would have been a year-long program, and on Thursday he was studying how to make an emergency landing and other procedures. The cause of the crash was still under investigation.
After their time in Ventura County skies, most of Bortolon’s students return to their native countries to work on commercial planes, rescue helicopters or other jobs.
Getting a license in the United States vs. overseas has many benefits, said Bortolon, who splits his time between Oxnard and his native Italy. Getting a pilot’s license in Europe can cost up to $120,000 but only about $40,000 here. English is the language of the skies, so learning in an English-speaking country is a plus. His school also teaches certification for a European pilot’s license, and California’s mild climate allows students to fly almost all the time.
“The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration pilot certifications are well-respected throughout the world,” said Jason Blair, executive director of the National Association of Flight Instructors.
But those who want to teach foreigners have a lot more hurdles, Blair said. Ever since the hijackers responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks learned to fly at American flight schools, security has been ramped up. Many schools gave up training foreigners because of all the paperwork, Blair said.
Twice a year, the TSA checks on the long list of records that companies keep on their students. Schools that only teach U.S. citizens get checked once a year.
On Friday the students, who like Ahire had come here to make a career in the skies, were on the ground mourning their friend.
11/10/09 Ventura Cointy Star, Ca, USA

New Delhi: IAF continues to haemorrhage from the exodus of its pilots seeking the much-greener pastures of civil aviation sector, which promises more stable and lucrative careers for them.
"Around 101 IAF pilots have applied for grant of premature retirement (PMR) during the last one year," defence minister A K Antony told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
"The broad reasons furnished by the applicants for grant of PMR are supersession, lack of career progression and medical/compassionate grounds," he added.
As reported by TOI earlier, over 500 IAF pilots have ditched their uniforms to join the civil arena since 2002. Worried at this exodus, IAF has been forced to "tighten controls" on "premature release" of its pilots but is still around 300 pilots short of its total sanctioned strength of 3,278 pilots, half of whom are into active operational flying.
IAF does not have much of a problem if pilots who have put in over 20 years leave the force but is extremely reluctant to part with those who are younger. It, after all, takes around Rs 11 crore to train a fighter pilot and around half that amount to train a transport or helicopter pilot.
"The money invested in them is recovered if they serve for at least 20 years. Military flying comes down drastically after one crosses 40. A commercial pilot, conversely, can fly till 61-62," said an officer.
10/12/09 Times of India

Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, a premier Public Sector Undertaking and India's largest helicopter company has invited applications for the post of Helicopter Pilot Trainees. The are 10 vaccancies and among these five are reserved for SC (2), ST (2) and OBC (1).

Eligibility
(i) Age
Not less than 18 years of age as on the date of application. Upper age limit would be 30 years (35 years for SC/ST and 33 years for OBC candidates).
(ii) Qualification
(a) Academic:- Should have passed 10+2 in Science with Physics and Mathematics or its equivalent from any recognised Board/University.
(b) Technical:- Current Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL) issued by DGCA, Government of India.
(iii) Medical Fitness
Medically fit Class-I status as certified by a DGCA empanelled doctor or medical establishment for issue of Student Pilot Licence prior to commencement of the flying training. He/She shoul preferably obtain Class-I status prior to the comencement of flying trainging.

Selection Procedure
The candidates would be selected on the basis of a written test/group discussion followed by interview through a Selection Committee at Delhi & Mumbai.

Cost of Training/Financial Assistance
Candidates selected as Trainee Pilot are required to bear the cost of training for acquiring CHPL. However, PHHL would facilitate to obtain finanial assistance by the candidate from a nationalised bank for the cost of training subject to maximum of Rs. 7.5 lacs per candidte.
Emoluments/absorption and other benefits during training period
The candidates will be paid a stipend of Rs. 25,000/- p.m. after acquiring CHPL and during the MCF conversio training period and shall be plaed in the scale of Rs. 20,600 - 46,500/- (E-1 grade) on successful completion of trining and thereafter passing of DGCA Examination and acquireing endorsement on our type of helicopter.

Eligible candidates should download the blank Application Form from the website www.pawanhans.co.in and send the same duly flled in clearly indicating details like Date of Birth, Category (SC/ST/OBC/XSM), Responsibilities & Achievements, Scale of Pay, otal Emoluments etc. along with a recent passport siz photograph and DD of Rs. 500/- drawn in favour of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited payable at New Delhi (SC/ST candidates are exempted from payment of appliation fee). Applications complete in all respect, supersribing the envelope with the post applied for, to reach: Dy. General Manager (P&HRD), Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, Corporate Office, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi-110003. on or before 21/12/2009.

See the detailed notification here at Pawan Hans website
01/12/09 Pawan Hans

DGCA has published the lists of candidates admitted for AME Licence Examination (Modular - December 2009). The examination is on December 06, 2009.

Delhi Centre
Mumbai
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Others

List of rejected candidates is here.

Here is a notice publsihed by the DGCA for candidates appearing in DGCA AME licence examination
03/12/09 DGCA