Aero India 2011 News

Bangalore: They had seen the F-16s, the Surya Kirans, the Flying Bulls, but they too want to fly those magnificent flying machines.
India’s premier pilot training school, the Rae Bareili-based Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), with its first stall at the air show, had an answer!
Piloting the flying careers of 700 youngsters in 25 years, IGRUA had a proven record. The autonomous body, attached to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, is after all, for flying training what IIT is for technology and IIM for management. At the air show, the institute wanted to tell youngsters that it exists, and would admit 100 potential pilots every year, to be picked up by Air India, Jet Airways, or any of the corporates buying smaller aircraft by the dozen.
“Every year, we get about 1,200 applications. The top 250 go through an interview and a pilot aptitude test. The selected 100 candidates will then go through a 15-month course, including a four-month ground training and 12-month flying training,” IGRUA’s Chief Flying Instructor, Rajesh Lal, told Deccan Herald. The students get 190 hours of flying on a single-engine aircraft and 10 hours on a twin-engine flight. The Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) is issued thereafter.
With the demand rising, the academy has proposed to increase the student intake to 120, and even venture into rotor wing training by acquiring helicopters.
12/02/11 Rasheed Kappan/Deccan Herald