Dreams soar as flying resumes at Patiala Aviation Club

Patiala: Patiala Aviation Club reopened for flying on September 3, after a gap of three years.
The Club is the only one in Punjab and Chandigarh to have a Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) licence for instructing students in flying. Three years ago, flying had come to a complete halt here. The other two flying clubs of Patiala — government’s Northern India Flying Club and privately owned Birmi Flying Academy — however, remain trapped in a legal battle.
At the Patiala Aviation Club, on the other hand, it is time for action. And like the club, Sukhdeep too is raring to go. In her ambitious flight, she has company of at least a dozen girls (most of them from the rural heartland of Punjab) who have enrolled with the club to learn flying. For Sukhdeep, DGCA’s green signal to relaunch flying at the club came as a breather. “I had long waited for this day,” she says, as she takes her ground lessons.
Ask the ambitious brigade if flying pinches their pockets and they reply, “The risk is momentary; the return everlasting.”
Though initially the DGCA had given the Patiala Aviation Club a licence to start flying lessons for two months, it has extended the permission till November 1. Club manager Abhay Chandra said the DGCA had asked the club to employ more ground instructors.
02/10/06 Sanjeev Chopra/Chandigarh Newsline