Flying club founded by Tata set for take-off on govt grant

Jamshedpur: The Jamshedpur Cooperative Flying Club (JCFCL), set up by Tata group chairman Ratan Tata in 1965, is about to get a new lease of life. For starters, an initial Rs 5-crore grant from the Jharkhand government will see the club getting a state of-the-art flight training academy — complete with hostels, classrooms, staff quarters and an institute building. An airhostess training academy is also on cards.
The flying club had been defunct over the past five years due to paucity of funds.
Cashing in on the aviation boom, the JCFCL proposes to repair the Swati and Pushpak aircraft and start running them. Subsequently, the club intends to start full-fledged training after taking in three Cessna aircraft on lease. Using these, they intend to help students get their student, private & commercial pilot licences over a period of 18 months.
The grant has been earmarked for the present fiscal (2008-09), and the proposal has already been submitted to the government. The flying club also intends to expand into Dumka and Ranchi.
“..We have earmarked Rs 5 crore and it may well go up to Rs 20 crore in the next fiscal, depending on the needs of the club,” said Dulal Bhuiyan, Jharkhand’s minister for land reforms and president of JCFCL.
The Jharkhand government had recently procured three Zlin aircrafts and a power glider, which is also on the club’s radar. “We can also approach the state government for providing these aircraft for training. The Rs 5-crore investment can reap in as much as Rs 25 crore, once the training starts,” added the club secretary Capt Ajay Srivastava, who is also the chief pilot, Jharkhand government.
28/05/08 Tuhin Datta/Economic Times