Low glamour quotient, pilot shortage hit choppers

Mumbai: Choppers are generally viewed as poor cousins to fixed-wing aircraft. While the shortfall in the number of pilots for fixed-wing flying has received tremendous media coverage, problems facing the chopper business have hardly made news.
Though there was a surge in youngsters deciding to become pilots, they still prefer flying fixed-wing aircraft to choppers — mainly due to comfort and glamor.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has declared 2008 as the year of helicopter services and has given approvals for a number of helicopter acquisition plans. But the stumbling block remains: lack of pilots and engineers.
Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) forecasts the fleet for general aviation to go up from less than 200 currently to 700-800 by 2020.
Choppers would form a significant chunk of this projection. But hurdles galore. There is only one institute that offers training for chopper pilots — The HAL Rotary Wing Academy in Bangalore.
The shortage is especially acute for specialized flying like that in offshore energy exploration. In fact, some companies are thinking of setting up their own schools.
As with commercial aviation, companies are trying to tide over by recruiting expat pilots. Also, the armed forces have been contributing a significant number.
With the retirement age of civilian chopper pilots at 65, those who take a VRS from the forces have close to two decades to uncork their earning potential if they retire aged 45.
The carrot dangled to attract talent is of course high salaries, which according to Siddarth Prakash Verma, executive director, Heligo Charters, “is as high or in some cases higher than civil aviation salaries.”
02/02/08 Nirmal John/Daily News & Analysis