NEW DELHI: Facing a severe shortage of pilots, the state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (HCCL) has decided to upgrade skills of its aeronautical engineers to make them pilots. This process will cost the PSU Rs 15 lakh per person and in return it will seek a 10-year bond from the engineers, who will be required to invest Rs 7.5 lakh from their own packets for the training programmes abroad.The helicopter major has started this as a small project for 10 people and would extend it later.
The 35-chopper company wants to acquire nearly 20 more helicopters and cash in on the current aviation boom. So, the training programme has been mooted to overcome the pilot shortage scenario.
Thanks to PHHL CMD RK Tyagi's brainchild of training engineers, 41-year-old Vinod Kumar is all set for a mid-career change that would catapult him from a salary bracket from a few thousands to a few lakhs within a year. After working in Pawan Hans for 19 years, this aeronautical engineer is among the first batch of company employees who have decided to train to become a chopper pilot in nine months. And once he becomes a pilot, his monthly salary of about Rs 40,000 will jump to anywhere between a starting figure of Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh. Akash Parekh, his 40-year-old colleague, has already started training in US.Currently India has about 170 choppers and a severe shortage of pilots. As an illustrative case, a paramilitary force had bought six MI-6 choppers about three years back and they remain parked at Safdarjung Airport as there were no pilots. In a few years, the number of choppers is going to rise to 500 and the requirement of fliers will only grow. In fact, so bad is the situation that PHHL does not even want to divulge the number of pilots it has for running the 35-chopper fleet for the fear of poaching by other operators. PHHL CMD R K Tyagi, who introduced the scheme, said: "We need pilots and who can understand choppers better than engineers working on them for years. This offer is open to all permanent employees subject to medical clearance and passing DGCA exams." Becoming a pilot is a smart move for physically fit engineers at the PSU. While they will retire at 60, as pilots they will be able to work for an additional five years on contract with Pawan Hans or any other operator.