Spreading New Wings

He retired as the deputy director, Higher Education, Maharashtra state only to get into the shoes of a student again. An example of sheer self-confidence and the urge to pursue a childhood passion. Meet 61-year-old Laxman Kokate who is the oldest gliding pilot being trained at the Gliding Centre, Pune under the Director General of Civil Aviation. He flew solo for the first time on January 25.

Kokate always harboured a secret dream of becoming a pilot someday.
Kokate was chosen as a class one officer in the Higher Education department of the government of Maharashtra. “I registered myself with the Pune Gliding Centre a week after my retirement in 2009,” Kokate adds.
“Flying gives you a different kind of high altogether. On my first flight, I felt like a bird up in the sky,” he shares with a smile. Every time that he soars up in his L-23 Super Blanik glider, he views his city in a different way. Nervousness was not a part of his first flight. “I made sure that I fully understood all the technicalities. Once that knowledge was in place, confidence followed automatically. Flying was always a passion for me; I never viewed it with a nervous eye,” he said.
On completing 25 flights with two hours of flying at a stretch everyday, Kokate will be a licensed pilot. “I want to fly for pleasure once I am licensed,” he says.
Kokate’s teachers, station-in-charge Captain Shailesh Charbhe and honorary instructor Srinivas Nyayapathi, are all praise about this senior enthusiast in their group.
Apart from the senior-most trained pilot, the centre has also produced Ruchira Gore, the youngest pilot of the country.
“To register here, one only needs to be medically fit and above 16 years of age,” says Nyayapathi.
30/01/12 Swasti Chatterjee/Express India