DGCA to reduce flying hours for aspiring pilots by half

To offer respite to students appearing for commercial pilot license (CPL), the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) has drafted a circular which relaxes the number of flying hours.
On August 6, 2008, after a meeting with the flying training institutes in India, DGCA proposed that the mandatory 50 hours flying experience prior to appearing for ground examination should be reduced to 25 hours. According to sources in DGCA, this was done basically to help the flying schools in the country.
“Many students go abroad to finish the 50 hour training and then return to give their ground training papers. After that they once again leave to complete the required 150 hours of flying,” said a DGCA official.
“Due to this, Indian flying institutes are losing out on students. So if they only need 25 hours of experience, then they will prefer to enroll in institutes in India rather than go abroad.”
A student takes at least two months to complete 25 hours of flying. However, few students and training institutes believe that the proposed draft will hardly change the situation.
“It is best that the DGCA does away with the required 25 hours also,” said Asha Mohan (name changed), a pilot for a private airline.
Mohan said it was preferable to first appear for the paper as it gave the student an indication whether he or she was capable of becoming a pilot. “… To complete 25 hours of flying you spend around Rs3 lakh. Imagine the amount of money that will go down the drain if you realise that you aren’t fit for the job.”
01/09/08 Navita Singh/Daily News & Analysis