A Mouthful of Sky

Since childhood when he would run outdoor to stare at planes flying overhead, Delhi-based Hemant Sahai dreamed of travelling through the sky in his own aircraft. But he grew up and became a corporate lawyer. He would still look up occasionally at flying planes but his own dream had died, almost. “Flying institutes across the country offer private pilot licence (PPL) but one is required to spend three months at a stretch in training. My job did not allow me this time. It seemed impossible that I would ever pilot a plane,” he says. Today, however, he can do just that. As can many others like him, who are on a tight time frame but want to become pilots.
Sahai enrolled at Chimes Aviation Academy’s Private Pilot Licence programme, customised for corporates and high net worth individuals (HNIs). Situated in Dhana (Madhya Pradesh), the programme was started in January and already has eight students who form the Cruiser Club. Gurgaon-based Flying School, Zara Aviation, which has air strips in Aligarh and Jaunpur, has trained more than 12 corporates since mid-2009. A three-hour drive from Delhi, the Aligarh-based Ambitions Aviation Academy will soon start a PPL programme for corporates. Officials at the Hyderabad-based Flytech Aviation Academy say these tailor-made packages are popular among well-heeled individuals. “Last year we had software engineers lining up for flying courses,” says Capt Mamatha, director, Flytech.
For these flying institutes — which also provide commercial pilot training as well as regular three-month PPL courses — customising courses for corporates and the well-heeled makes sense financially. While the routine programme costs Rs 6.5 lakh for 55 flying hours, the corporate package is priced at Rs 12 lakh at Chimes and Rs 5 lakh at Zara.
The students learn how to pilot a plane at their own convenient time schedule, including weekends. While the conventional time frame for acquiring a PPL is two to three months, with students working for five hours hours everyday through the week, these flexible programmes can be stretched from anywhere between three to six months, with convenient class timings.
02/08/10 Debesh Banerjee/ExpressIndia