Bombay Flying club will take off again

Mumbai: All activities at The Bombay Flying Club, India’s oldest flying club, were grounded for the past year and a half. Why? Because the club, which was founded in 1929 by JRD Tata, lacked a chief flying instructor (CFI).
But now there is hope for aspiring city pilots, as they will be able to complete flight training in at a school in Baroda. “After considerable effort on our part, the Directorate General Civil Aviation appointed a common CFI for the two schools. It will take us one more week to finalise things, after which students can start flight training,” said BL Bijlani, secretary of the Club
Till date, aspiring pilots, who were being trained here, had no option but to go to the United States or other countries to get their flying hours. “The shortage of CFIs has been very troublesome, as students had to wait for a long time to finish accumulating their flying hours and hence a majority of them used to go out (abroad). But the move to start flying activities in Baroda will be a relief,” said a source.
28/03/07 Daily News & Analysis