How Indian Defense Pilots get Trained ??? ( PART 1 )

Many people confuse with the training given to Civil Airline Pilots and the Defense Pilots . But let me clear it in 2nd line of my article that never try to compare these two . There is not a single thing common in both except that they fly planes. So , let me start with the civil pilots who get trained by the Private establishments like IGRUA in UP. They first give 200 hours of flying experience on Simulator and then start with actual flying .
Talking about Defense Pilots , let me give u basic idea that all four forces r having there separate Pilots , Air Force , Indian Navy, Indian Army and Coast guards. But because of the reason that number of pilot in Army Coast guard and Navy r less compared to Indian Air Force ,  all Pilots get trained for Basic Flying in Air Force establishments and Further training is done in specific establishments of Navy and Air force.
For training , HAL-built HPT-32 Deepak primary trainers were used earlier.But they were grounded in 2009 following a spate of crashes and over 100 incidents of engine failures. Pilatus PC-7 Mk 2 have replaced HAL-built HPT-32 Deepak. India is already taking delivery of PC-7 Mk 2 aircraft from Pilatus under a contract for 75 such aircraft signed in 2012.

But , there is a need for 181 Basic Trainer Aircraft   for the Stage I flying training for the Indian Air Force . So, IAF has decided to “urgently” buy 106 PC-7 Mk 2 Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) from Pilatus, pulling the plug yet again on state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is also making an aircraft for training junior pilots.

The BTAs (Basic Trainer Aircrafts) will be acquired from the Swiss company under the “Buy & Make (Indian)” category, in accordance with India’s defense procurement policy. A Request for Information (RFI) calls for delivery of aircraft and equipment to begin by 2015-16, with all 106 PC-7 Mk2’s to be delivered by 2020-21.

Under the “Buy & Make (Indian)” category, Pilatus will have to form a joint venture or establish a production arrangement with an Indian company to execute the contract. So , The Indian government desires a local vendor or company to form a joint venture or establish a production arrangement with Pilatus to “supply a certain number of PC-7 Mk. 2 aircraft in flyaway condition as the ‘buy’ portion, followed by licensed production/indigenous manufacture in India under the ‘make’ portion,”

Since the aircraft is to be license-produced in India, it must have a minimum of 50% indigenous content on a cost basis (for a specified list of items). A minimum of 30% indigenous Indian content for applicable items also is required. However, no minimum indigenous content is needed for the “buy” portion of the contract.

The decision to buy BTA from Pilatus could severely affect HAL’s plans for its Hindustan Turbo Trainer 40 (HTT-40). The IAF and HAL have been debating the future of the turbo trainer for over two years now, but a decision on any forward movement for the project came to the fore when former IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne wrote to Defense Minister A.K. Antony urging a foreclosure of the HTT-40 program to enable the import of 106 more PC-7 Mk. 2 trainers.

The ministry of defense had cleared an IAF request in 2009 to buy 181 BTAs, 75 of which would be procured from an international vendor with the remaining to be designed and developed by HAL. India signed a deal in May 2012 worth about $650 million for 75 Pilatus aircraft. So far, the Swiss company has delivered about 20 aircraft and the IAF, which has suffered from a severe shortage of modern trainers, has commenced training with the PC-7 Mk 2.

To be continued in next articles ....

THE FIRST FLIGHT

What a day it was. After a wait of 1 and half year after my selection to Naval aviation , the day finally came , 23rd Jan 2015 it was. So , I got my helmet , gloves , thighpad and some more stuff that we have to carry before any flight. Me and my instructor moved towards Aircraft . He was briefing me about the stuff we were going to perform during flight like Take off , aerobatics , sector establishment etc. I could barely listen to what he was saying , I was more excited about the first flight. I opened the canopy , did some external checks and We entered the aircraft. After full system check of half an hour , I finally released the brakes and we started moving towards the Runway. At runway , I took permission to take-off and here I was airborne in next 10 seconds. We entered the alloted sector and were flying at 14000 feet. Sir was showing me the area around Hydrabad city , Narsapur , Jogipet , Nizam Sagar  , Octopus lake and many more ground feature that we use for checking our orientation during any manouvre .

 There was a time when Instructor inverted the plane and I was looking over head to see the Outer Ring Road Hydrabad and Trucks , buses , cars were passing from there. In last 10-15 min. , sir showed me some aerobatics like Roll , Loop , Spin , Stall , Barrel roll , Roll over the top . I could see on the front screen , we acheived +4g in manouvres. After 1 hour of flight we landed and taxied out in Dispersal. We came out of the Aircraft like the way I have seen in photographs and movies "IN FLYING CLOTHES ,HELMET ON LEFT SIDE , MOVING WITH FULL CONFIDENCE WITH AVITORS ON "  What a memorable day it was. Whatever time u spent in air during your whole career but the first time is always special.

My training is going on these days and I already completed First phase of flying. Everyday we fly for 1 hour but a lot of preparation is needed before each flight because our own life is on stake. But seriously best Profession in world.

"Once You Have Tasted Flight ,You Will Forever Walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards , for there you have been and there you always long to return "

The Day when flying became Scary

Its not like , I have never been on a flight before but this was the incidence which happened after I done my Pre Flying Training and was going from Kochi to Delhi by Air India AI- 047 . As I boarded the plane , I started realizing that the stuff I studied about planes like Lift , Drag , aerofoils , aeroengines in last 5 weeks was
going to be real soon. I could see the different colored lights on the runway .
It was funny telling the guy sitting beside me that , Blue lights are traffic lights , White r runway lights , red r end of runway lights and green r threshold lights.
Beside this I was able to judge the movements of Pilot , wht he was doing and wht next  he gonna do :) .It was like sitting next to ur friend in car and knowing all his actions.
It was scary when plane was going to take-off . I knew how actually plane flies and what r the various  requirements for flying. My mind suddenly goes toward the problems that can occur like stalling and engine failures . Being a person of Defence forces , I should not say this : "but I was little scared" ;). After a few moments when plane reached a good height , everything was normal ;)
It was a great experience and I m feeling lucky that I m gonna be a part of defence aviation soon and going to "FLY HIGH".

Half Marathon , 21 km in 1 hr 52 min.

What a day it was !!! A lot to share , starting from last night ,The Navy Ball , we were wearing Number 6 uniform , drinking and listening to Veer Das comedy . After Veer Das , some dance performance was there and then comes KK , the legend . He started with  'Yaaron Dosti Bdi hi haseen hai ' and with few more songs , whole environment changed . Officers started dancing with their families and soon the singles like us joined them. A lot of dancing , first on KK songs and then some more singers and then on DJ . After dinner , we moved to our rooms and it was already 0130hrs.

Next morning we were having Marathon , so we decided to wake up at 4 bt when I woke up ,my watch was showing 5. I rushed to Abhimanyu's cabin. They seemed less interested in going , so I decided to go myself. I took bus and reached the starting point. Soon the Marathon started.

First 10 Km. : In starting , I could feel the hangover so have no idea , how first 3 km gone . After 3 , my counterparts started showing less enthusiasm and they were kind of less interested in race now. Soon only one of my friend left with me . We crossed bridge , Kahawa , Naval Base , SFNA  and were almost at 10 km milestone when the last counterpart left me alone.

10 - 20 km : Soon I reached the 11 km point from where I had to return back . I was running like hell , no breathing problem , only sweat was coming. As I reached Naval base again , I decided to call Abhimanyu and we talked for some time . After crossing bridge , I called to my brother , and we talked for 2 km . People standing on sides of road were amazed to see that a guy is talking on phone and running at 18 Km milestone while others have already started walking. As I reached 20 km , I cut the call.

Last 1000 meters : Now it was last 1 km , and i was still having lot of energy , so I decided to sprint. I am sure that I crossed at least 50 people in last km.

As I entered the ground , it was all crowded . I reached the final point , took my medal and stretched for some time . I was not able to feel my legs after few minutes. After all , I stepped outside the ground , had 3 juices and then took auto to naval base. It was a great day and had lot of fun . Seriously , I had never expected to complete 21 km with such good timing of 1 hr 52 min with hangover , sleepless night and dance for 3 hrs last night .

The long day

The day started with hangover , 2 beers I had last night in Officers Institute were enough to take me out of senses . My watch was showing 9:30 am . Soon I realized that I have to pee , I rushed towards washroom . When I looked into the mirror , eyes were red showing three  consecutive restless nights that I had . I picked up my phone and saw 2 missed calls from Reetu . I called back , they were leaving from Munnar and were expected to arrive allepy at 2 PM.
I got ready , took aviators from Shreyas , and then reached main gate in next 15 minutes. From there reached railway station and bought ticket. After  reaching allepy at 2 PM , I entered some Restaurant and was doing some surfing on internet . Suddenly I heard some voice asking "Can I join u ???" . She was some foreigner and was carrying big bag. I helped her putting that down and offered water. We talked for 45 minutes . She was from UK , coming from Sri Lanka and going to Pakistan . After she left , I decided to walk around. It was a gud place , back waters and boats.
My friends reached at 3.30 ,when  I met them , they were planning for some House boat . After doing all formalities , we entered the Powerboat . We had gud time there , bt I had to leave at 7 . After leaving , I again was standing on the railway station .
A cute girl was sitting there , and was doing something  on mobile. As train reached , she entered 2nd ac , I followed her.  In next 10 minutes I was sitting in front of her talking , and sharing basic information. She was from Banglore , and did B Tech in Bio Technology . Now she is doing job in Congizant . We talked for some time and then my station arrived. After leaving station , I took auto to Kahawa - coffee centre.
At kahawa , I opened FB and tried to find that girl . Soon I realized there were two eyes looking at me constantly. There was a girl sitting in front table looking at me. I waited for 5 min. And then slowly walked towards her table . I asked to join her and started talking . This girl was from Assam , did some course for one year and was Receptionist at Trident hotel. After some time , my friends (bros) arrived Kahawa and her friend also came . I left her table and joined my bros on other table. An hour later , I saw her leaving from Kahawa. We continued masti till 12:30  and asked for bill. Receptionist amazed  me telling that girl already paid my bill. WTF. I gave money to receptionist and told him that whenever u see that girl in future , give this money to her.
So finally day ended with lot of memories.

Why Future Predictions ???

one day one of my friend Neha was asking  "Why u always calculate everything about future, don't u think life should be like a surprise gift?"
I was not having any answer at that moment but after thinking I came to a conclusion that when u want ur life to be perfect u should calculate everything before going for some particular decision , may be I am contradicting some of the lines of Bhagwat Gita here which said "Never worry about the future and live in the present moment"
I am totally agree with the above line that one should always live in present but I am just saying that be calculative as wise person and never feel pressurized because of future predictions. For example , What my aim from childhood was that I never wanted to look back into my past life saying "If I had done this , the results could be better , I don't want my life to be a regret at the end" . So everytime when I m going to take a decision ,I always look for the future happenings so that I won't regret at any moment of life . This is the only reason why I love my past life so much .May be many of the people not agreed to me on this but this is what I do :)

Confusion All Around

There was  always an environment around me when I was looking forward for something , was desiring something but the days I am spending right now are working differently , the whole things getting confused . I was talking to some of my friends about this but was not able to conclude what I want now .  
          For a person who was always busy doing something whole the time , suddenly , have done something and he is free for couple of months and being tension free. Life without tension is also such a boring thing specially when the people around you are always working for some goal and you have nothing to do , just to spend the time roaming here and there . Everyone is discussing about the future expects and specially what they are going to do after college , and in that discussion you are feeling  departed . Everyone want this kind of free time but when they get this , they have no idea where to utilize this.  Same thing is happening here . Was this all I was desiring ????
I am still asking that one simple question from myself :
"HAVE I MADE IT LARGE OR STILL SOMETHING THERE TO ACHIEVE "