private flying in India

[indyaachen]

I will be going to India next year, and it'd be great to talk to someone experienced about the GA scene there .... now or in near future.

I know that one cannot rent a plane there without going through the ridiculous conversion process, but is it possible to rent something small even with a FI for the sightseeing?

So far I have found only one firm ... Go Fly Zone(Visit Microlight Aviation for microlight aircraft, gyrocopters & LSA (http://microlightaviation.in)). The website's 'aircraft' page seems overly exaggerated after after looking at 'contact' page :=

[fcornell]

Iworked in pakistan for a while and flew out of a flying club in one of the major cities.--can"t guarantee exactly like india bit probably similar. The instructors were mainly ex pakistan air force. I always flew with an instructor-never tried to get a pakistani licence as it would no doubt been highly bureacratic.
You paid up front and i"m afraid most aircraft weren"t in great condition. My companion/FI was an ex wing co--very pleasant man.
There were often children on the runway when we landed--a culture shock--and apparently one or two were occasionaly hit by landing aircraft.Our chart was out of date and there were numerous restrictions ref air space.
It will be an interesting experience if you can find a club--I would be interested to know how you get on.

[indyaachen]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Well, I can imagine everything you described for Pakistan being absolutely true for India. Whatever reference on the Internet you find about general aviation concerns ex-army personnel. I guess they know how things work and have contacts.

I don't know if it is just non-existing GA scene in India or just lack of information on the Internet. There is a microlight manufacturer in India whose planes are sold in UK under the X-Air brand name, quite popular in US & UK apparently. There are some women pilots trying out microlight on Facebook, which is not updated anymore.

So, I guess I will have to find out when I am there. Still I am not sure I'll get anywhere :ugh:

[AndiC]

I was in India in August for a holiday, there didn't seem to be much GA, there some flying clubs but most seemed geared towards commercial training in the areas we were going to (Mumbai & the south). The few I contacted were not interested in offering a flight with an instructor, there are some websites offering pleasure flights such as flyovermumbai but as pleasure flight only. I did manage to go flying with an Instructor with Bangalore aerosports in an Xair microlight which was really fun, they operate from Mysore & Bangalore, contact details are on their website & the owner Ashok & his wife who also flys were great.

Also i had a go in a 737 sim, located in a shopping mall in Bangalore (also in Mumbai I think) with Flight4Fantasy, 1hr was about £30.

[fcornell]

There were a few students at the club--Lahore--and amazingly one young lady-who was very "with it". I beleive there are one or two women pilots flying with PIA. You have to be quite financially well off to learn to fly as the average income is not high. India seems to be rapidly improving economically at present, so there it"s probable that private flying is increasing.