Miles Above in Unsafe Hands

[scorpilot]

finally

had a feeling you worked for the "maharaja"...that explains your strong indictment of the standards here..
all I can reiterate is we are evolving like everyone else..safety does not happen overnight..

i am outta here..but no generalisations and lofty sweeping statements please..safe flying to all...

[VT-GLG]

I have gone through all the threads.

I am a glider pilot in-fact one of the few of the bread who actually fly by the grace/ovrersight of DGCA at Gliding Center, Pune Callsingn Hadapsar on 136.0 on 5DME Radial 167 PUN. We are the last remaining sports airfield in the India started by 1st Prime Minister Pt. Jahawarlal Nehru.

We fly L-23 Super Blanik sail plaines (Sailplane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gliding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I can understand each of your point of view.

I have been following changes in DGCA and they seam to be happening for good. The present DG has been intelligent & wise. He is ensuring standards and system are set right.

I am not advocating for them or the system. All the pilots at Gliding center are aware of it.

Our licence & documents get lost or delayed (months sometimes years) when sent to DGCA for renewal or for additional ratings etc. Financial sanctions do not come through.

We are treated as 2nd rate pilots. But it take pure skill, good understanding of Met, Nav, Regs to fly a glider for the durations that we fly for.

An average trainee pilots after his solo does a single flight of 3 to 5 hours (unpowered) over and above the experience requirements as laid down.

A lot of line pilots from Air India, Spicejet, Indigo come to Gliding Center, Pune to fly gliders.

Gliding is the best way to gain flying experience when you are soaring and the shear number of landings that we do. The Gimi Glider (Gimli Glider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and US Airways Flight 1549 (US Airways Flight 1549 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) are good examples of glider flying experience.

So we do not stop flying after flaring at 50Ft we flair at 10Ft and continue to fly until one of the wing drops to the ground after the landing roll.

It is subsidised by the Govt. of India & it does not cost much to fly a glider - under Rs. 200 for a take off. Your guys should come to Pune and spend some time on the airfield and everything will appear to be trivial.

Some nightmares never go but with time I hope will heal them all, looking at the changes that are happening in DGCA.

Now for the best news of all

Some of the "rot" at the top are about to reteire. hope they do not get extention to their service. (Exception to this is one JDG has got 6months extention approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation after October 2010).

BAD news:

The above mentioned JDG is interested in destroying Gliding in the Country.. so that he would get a plum job on his final retirement.

The land assets are so huge MIAL management would be jealous. Fit to start a GA airfield and heliport here along with Gliding.

The Govt of India (read the above JDG) feels Gliding Center is a burden on them, What about the 20,000 Crores bailout pakage to Air India and 40Crores to Pawan Hans & God only knows what else .......

Our budget is only 1Crore PA & We are a burden to the Govt of India.

Guys need to see the positive side of this it appears that sun is just rising. & we hope to see bright sunshine some day.

Skywards @ Gliding Centre Pune India
Facebook :Gliding Center Pune

[jimmygill]

I am a glider pilot in-fact one of the few of the bread[sic, breed?] who actually fly by the grace/ovrersight of DGCA at Gliding Center, Pune Callsingn Hadapsar on 136.0 on 5DME Radial 167 PUN. We are the last remaining sports airfield in the India started by 1st Prime Minister Pt. Jahawarlal Nehru.

With Charbhe still at helm, I am sure there won't be much of sport. But don't be so proud of the heritage, there are other better run gliding centres in India.

We are treated as 2nd rate pilots. But it take pure skill, good understanding of Met, Nav, Regs to fly a glider for the durations that we fly for.

Funny, so who do you think are treated as first rate pilots?

Our budget is only 1Crore PA & We are a burden to the Govt of India.

Every single entity of DGCA is a burden on tax payer. You tell me, how many clerks does it need to operate a gliding center?



and which JDG?

[VT-GLG]

JmmyGill...It appears that you YOUNG and are not as educated as other in the thread.

Unless you fly a glider you will never know what flying dead stick is!

I have a JAR CPL

Come down to mother earth and think before you speak/write.

If you fly with this attitude, I am sure you will be another number in that sad statistic of Indian aviation and everyone will be happy that you are gone.

So please desist from insulting fellow aviators.

I have a lot so say as far as line pilots are concerned.

But my maturity says that everyone is part of the team and each one has to play his part correctly.

FYI there are only 2 Gliding Setups operational in India today Pune & Nashik so which one are you referring to?

[jimmygill]

Are you Charbhe or close to him? Otherwise I don't see a reason for getting so much on the nerves..

By the way whats a Jar CPL?

[leftseatview]

Without getting personal....gliding/soaring is a great way to get introduced to flying.
Wish more of the young crowd started that way,rather than rushing through a "Crash course" abroad(too many CPL accidents happening)
Getting a few too many "scared pilots" in the airlines nowadays
Wish more people would take up flying for the right reasons
Hope gliding survives and thrives in India.

[VT-GLG]

@Jimmy is that the only name you know in Gliding...Well, you are wrong.
BTW what harm has gliding done to you?
You have not answered my question which Gliding setup were you referring to?
When you know nothing about gliding please refrain from speaking about it.

If you do not know JAR than you are still not into aviation. Just goes to show where you stand.

@ leftseatview Thank you for you views & Support.

Anyway! I do not want to encourage this.

My point of posting was to look at things positively. They will work out.

You will see DGCA improving in the coming months.
The examination process, the results, regulations, are all in for a change.

[jimmygill]

Hope gliding survives and thrives in India.

And I hope it survives without the enormous subsidy that pour in.

[itsbrokenagain]

Jimmy... you are one very bitter and twisted person with some strange vendetta judging by all your posts !

But keep it up , its entertaining thats for sure!

PS I do wish I could fly a glider, it must be the most awesome experience to fly purely by reading the sky and for hours on end.. maybe one day I will learn how to really fly.

[Meathead Pilot]

Jimmy... you are one very bitter and twisted person with some strange vendetta judging by all your posts !

Thats because this guy is incapable of finding a job and has nothing better to do than sit in front of his PC drinking tea and shed his frustration in pprune...

[jimmygill]

PS I do wish I could fly a glider, it must be the most awesome experience to fly purely by reading the sky and for hours on end.. maybe one day I will learn how to really fly.

Of course you should learn soaring, but I don't want the Indian Taxpayer to pay for your gliding lessons.

You can consider me twisted at least on this, I have had gliding lessons at the very center being hailed as mecca of soaring, but in days when the center was headed by a true (and really big) gentleman. Yes its cheap, less than 4-5 USD per launch, one can't even get a decent burger in that price. I enjoyed the freebie and am against this freebie as well. So Kudos to the JDG who wants this glider center gone, he has my support, and now I have got a job at least a temporary one, a petition to hasten up the closure.

[jimmygill]

sit in front of his PC drinking tea

I like the imagination involved in such posts... but he doesn't sit in front of his PC.. the PC is the one gifted and maintained by the Indian Tax Payer, so I kind of thank him also for the tea also..

[VT-GLG]

@ Jimmy thanks for disclosing you identity! BUT you will never know mine. Pitty


@ itsbrokenagain : You are welcome to the Gliding Center Pune. You can get all the details at Skywards @ Gliding Centre Pune India. We are open Sunday to thursday.

@StinkyMonkey: You right the day they get ALTP and are to command a Ifly A320, I wounder if they are able to keep up to PBN and what about the landing at IGI or BBB!!! gives me shivers - another Mangalore waiting to happen.

[jimmygill]

BUT you will never know mine.

Of course I will never come to know, so I will only refer as JAR-CPL-holder-Glider-Pilot. Your English has improved a lot since your first post. And that makes identification even more difficult.

[cyrilroy21]

Well she made the news again

Who's flying you? - Case of Garima Passi- TIMESNOW.tv - Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos

[P51-Mustang]

This is unbelievable..!! But then I guess can't say that I am too surprised..It just makes me sad.

[sonsal]

its not gonna affect garima passi, because her dad is a director in air safety branch, DGCA. She got the job when the recession was at its peak. but its really a shame for indian aviation. It shows that POWER and Money can do everything you want in India.

[P51-Mustang]

Fake pilot scam: Shocking case of Garima Passi - Video | The Times of India

A video of the same news..!!

[rockybalboa]

it had to happen

suddenly the whole of indian aviation is under media scanner,even the dgca examination and licensing process is being questioned,the aviation minister made a statement today that whole process is being reviwed.things we were alaways aware of but chose to keep quiet about is now out in the open.the examination authority and the regulatery authorities should be two different bodies completely independent of each other