In pursuit of the Ultimate high

India may not have flying communities like Florida’s Spruce Creek-where roads are taxiways, homes have aircraft hangars and windows open to neighbourhood runways-but change is in the air, as those who can afford flying school are lining up to earn their Private Pilot Licences (PPL). Over the last few years, industrialists, lawyers, engineers, et al, have been descending onto those lazy runways in small towns.
One of the latest entrants is 60-year-old entrepreneur, Hitesh Mehta, who has returned to an old love after a gap of more than 40 years. His passion for planes began as a college boy in Kolkata. “After getting off at the village bus stop early in the morning, I would walk 5-6 km through rural terrain, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for snakes. Reaching the flying club did not guarantee you the chance to fly that day as the school had only three aircraft and many students,” recalls Mehta, who did 40 hours on a Pushpak in 1967-68 before opting for a career change. Airline jobs were hard to come by in those days. Mehta has rediscovered his love for flying, this time on a Cessna 152.
Hobby flyers in Mumbai prefer to go to small towns where the air space is less congested. To meet the growing demands, the number of flying training planes in India has doubled over the last five years. Capt Yashraj Tongia, chief flying instructor, Yash Air, the school where Mehta has enrolled, says: “The country’s industry currently has about 180 flying training aircraft. So now there are opportunities galore for those who wish to fulfil their dreams of flying.” He added that in about 20 days one can complete the 40 hours of training needed for a PPL. ” Actor Sohail Khan did his first solo flight five days after starting flying training.”
While it is not known how many Indians are taking to the skies, instructors give a conservative estimate of 30 to 40.
“I got a student pilot licence when I was 17, even before I got a driving licence,” says Mathur, an Indore-based civil engineering student. “I leave home at 4.30 am, go to Ujjain, and take-off by 5.45 am. You have to see a sunrise from a cockpit to behold it in all its beauty,” he says.
But getting a licence is cumbersome. “The DGCA should put up information on hobby flying on its website,” says Pratik Agarwal, an industrialist in Worli. There are plenty of hurdles even for pilots like Agarwal who earned their licence abroad. Agarwal got his PPL from the UK, but converting his license to an Indian one-mandatory for hobby flying in India-was not task. Entrepreneur Madhav Goel, who did his flying in the US agrees. “It took me a year to convert my PPL,” he says adding that he dreams of flying over Mumbai’s skies.
22/08/10 Manju V/Times of India