US air crash: Spotlight on Indian trainees

Mumbai: Three American researchers and Capt Jeff Rozelle, one of the partners of Florida’s Kemper Aviation, died in an air crash on Thursday.
About 70 Indian students are learning to fly in this US institution which has been dogged by frequent crashes, many of them fatal.
The tragedy has raised serious questions about the safety standards followed by the academy.
But what is even more shocking, say students, is the case of the missing chief flight instructor (CFI) at the academy. The CFI is entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing day-to-day flight operations to ensure safety but the Kemper CFI, Capt Akshay Mohan, has been here in India for quite some time.
The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India does not allow a flying school to function for even a single day without a CFI. More than 60%of the flying schools in India have shut down because of a dearth of CFIs.
Mohan, who has been signing and authenticating the flying training log books of students to date, has also been working as a pilot with Kingfisher Airlines.
“The CFI is entrusted with critical decisions like whether a student is ready to fly solo and whether a student can be sent to fly in a particular weather condition. In fact, in the event of engine failure, the student is supposed to contact the CFI for instructions for an emergency landing,” a DGCA official said.
Kingfisher Airlines confirmed that Capt Mohan had joined the airline in September 2007. “He told us then that he was the CFI of Kemper Aviation but added that he had resigned from the post to take up the airline job,” an airline spokesperson said.
But the Kemper Aviation website, which is updated, says: “Akshay is the general manager and chief flight instructor who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business.”
(The content of this page at the Kemper site is altered, it seems. To read the old page with the above details, here is the Google’s cache of the page retrieved on 29 Feb 2008 17:36:31 GMT. – Editor, Av India).
Capt Mohan has also been in frequent contact with students through e-mails, sending them instructions and orders. TOI has copies of e-mails sent to the students by Capt Mohan on February 2, February 23 and February 27.
The February 27 e-mail, which is the only one he has not signed but comes from the same address, orders students to deposit between $1500 and $2000 by March 3 in a new “security” account. “You will not have access to this account, nor will you be able to use this money any sooner than your multi-engine training. The rest of the money will be refunded upon your return to India,” the e-mail says.
“This is one of the many tactics they are using to stop students from moving out of the institute. We just hope that, with Thursday’s crash, the FAA closes this institute and orders Capt Mohan to refund our balance fees,” a student said.
Capt Mohan could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Kingfisher Airlines sources said that he had flown to US on Thursday night and had apparently applied for a month’s leave. There was no formal reply from the FAA but a senior FAA official said they had the power to revoke certification on an emergency basis.
15/03/08 Times of India