Emotional reunion for ‘aviators’

Hyderabad: It was a meeting with a difference as more than 50 pilots working with the Government and private airlines got together to refresh their memories of their training at the Andhra Pradesh Flying Club.
Forgetting for a moment their flying schedules, these pilots gathered at a function hall in Secunderabad to form an association aptly named ‘Hyderabad Aviators.’
The first such meeting witnessed emotional scenes as veteran pilots rubbed shoulders with the young ones. Among them was Capt S.N.Shenoy, first member of the Andhra Pradesh Flying Club, who vividly remembered his training days in the premier club established in 1958.
Also present was Capt. Ernest V. Neil, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and later was associated with the Flying Club between 1959 and 1974.
For Capt. Zafar Abid Ali, working as Senior Specialist, Airport Operations with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, it was dream come true to meet his batch-mates.
He joined the club in 1961 and went to the United Kingdom for higher studies and ended up bagging a job in British Airports Authority.
Capt. M.Ramesh Kumar, Deputy General Manager (Operations), Indian, and G.Vasant Kumar welcomed such an interaction. Retired chief of flying instruction, P.D.Rao, was visibly elated as his students were now working with leading airlines in the country.
Capt. S.P.Anil Kumar, Regional President of Indian Commercial Pilots Association, who was instrumental in organising the meeting, told The Hindu that the idea was to bring together all the aviators, who had passed out from the Andhr a Pradesh Flying Club.
“We want to make this an annual event where all the pilots, who completed their training in Hyderabad, can come together and spend some time discussing their professional matters,” he added.
02/08/07 Siasat Daily