Lack of simulators to hit pilot training

Airlines are on aircraft purchasing sprees, small companies are showing interest in running commercial flights and government is offering more routes to fly but central government’s ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) will face a tough challenge of having enough trained pilots.

Industry experts and pilots say every aircraft type requires a simulator for training and India doesn’t have enough of these for small aircraft. This means, airlines will have to send pilots abroad for training, increasing cost of operation.

“The overall objective of RCS scheme is to provide cheap flight tickets. But no one provides simulator training for small aircrafts, which will be used in most of the flights operating under RCS. Now airlines will have to send pilots to other countries for training, which will be three times of the cost of the same training in India,” said a pilot with Air India.

ATR and Q-400 are most likely to be used under RCS. A commercial license holder is require to have two months simulator training if he/she is to fly a different aircraft. While Air India is in the process of installing an ATR simulator in Hyderabad, Flight Simulation Technique Centre (FSTC) has one in Gurgaon.

“Because of the huge demand, we have a waiting period of 3-4 months... If the same facility is available in India, companies can save on stay cost and other travel related cost,” said DS Basraon, Director of FSTC.

He added that at least 12 pilots are required per plane for an aircraft to run for 10 hours. At least 100 aircrafts and over 1,000 trained pilots will be required forthe central government scheme.

Keeping in mind the growing demand, FSTC is planning on buying a simulator for the Q-400.

“You will have to train more than the minimum required. Other option is to hire expat pilots, which is again a costly option,” he added.

Airfare for a one hour journey of 500 km on a fixed-wing aircraft or for a 30 minute journey on a helicopter would be capped at ₹2,500 under the scheme.

The selected operator would have to provide 50% of the flight capacity (subject to a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 40) as RCS seats for operations through fixed-wing aircraft and a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 13 seats through helicopters.

Operators selected under the scheme will have to start flying the routes by September.