Plan to revive Madras Flying Club takes off

Chennai: Pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers have come together to revive the Madras Flying Club, the oldest and premier flying training institution in the country. Of the seven pilots involved in the efforts, two Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) Airbus Commanders Capt. E. Chandrasekhar and Capt. R. Nandakumar have been elected chairman and honorary secretary of the club.
Of the 22 flying clubs in the country, 17 have closed down. The Madras Flying Club remained defunct for a year.
The club owns three Cessna-152-Aerobat twin-seat aircraft and has 45 student trainees. Capt. Jayaprakash is the chief flying instructor.
While flying training will be given between 5.15 a.m. and 6 p.m., the classes will go on till 8.45 p.m., says Capt. Nandakumar, who has over 10,000 flying hours piloting the Boeing-737 and Airbus-300 fleet of wide-bodied jets. The club, a non-profit organisation, will cater for all four southern States and the cost of flying training has been made affordable.
Each hour of flying training will cost Rs. 3,720. A one-time fee of Rs. 25,000 will be charged separately for ground classes.
02/05/06 T.S. Shankar/The Hindu

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Categories: Pilot Schools, Pilot Training