City unit gets Airbus simulators

CTE has 61-yr record of training experienced pilots

Air India’s Central Training Establishment has acquired flight simulators for the Airbus 319, A320 and A321 and for the ATR to train pilots, according to Captain Sangita Kabra Bangar, deputy general manager, operations.

The CTE, established in 1958 and the oldest in the country, trains private and commercial pilots and instructs ground, technical and cabin crew.

“It is our aim to ensure that we update our training mechanism every six months. This will keep the pilots abreast of technological advancements,” Capt. Bangar told a group of mediapersons at the facility at Balanagar.

The CTE has three simulators and can accommodate 20 more. “The training never ends for a pilot as she has to be up-to-date with all the latest technology and hardware. That is why we put them in the simulators and teach them in our classrooms,” she said.

“The simulators are open to the staff round the clock. Every pilot is a given timeframe of eight hours in two classes on the simulator,” Capt. Bangar said.

Air India is in the process of obtaining European Union Air Safety Agency’s certification for its Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility here. “Most of the foreign airlines look for the certification before sending their aircraft to the MRO facility. If any facility has EASA certification, then the airlines will have an idea about the standards of the MRO facilIity,” said Mr Y. Srinivasa Rao, GM(engineering) of Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), a wholly owned subsidiary company of Air India Limited.