‘The journey has been great, testing’

It was the year 1992 and the Indian Government had just introduced the ‘Open Sky Policy’ in India. I had returned to India with my family the same year from the US, after working for many years with Eastern Airlines in Miami, Florida.

The first private ‘Air Taxi Operator’ East West Airlines, began operations the same year. They hired me to Head the In-flight Department of their airline and write the first flight safety manual for private operators. This was challenging as the DGCA had no idea at that time how to deal with private operators, let alone endorse a flight safety manual for cabin crew. Having trained crew in the US in flight safety and worked under the FAA guidelines, I managed to write a flight safety manual, which after much perusing by the DGCA and going back and forth between the airline and the DGCA finally got approved.
07/03/13 Vijaya Lukose/New Indian Express