Following crash Malaysian school suspends all flights

Malaysian private flight school Elite Flying Club has suspended all flights following Monday’s crash involving Singapore permanent resident Mr Sanjay Purushottam.
A school administrator told The Straits Times that it is making efforts to contact all its members to inform them of the suspension due to investigations into the crash.
The school, one of at least four in Johor Bahru, has about 70 members, mostly made up of Singaporeans.
Mr Purushottam, 40, took off in one of the school’s two two-seater Cessna 152 aircraft at about 9.40am on Monday from Senai Airport. He was on a navigational exercise to obtain his private pilot’s licence (PPL) and was scheduled to arrive at Batu Berendam airport in Malacca at 10.50am.
About 30 minutes into the flight, he ran into difficulties and asked for permission to turn back before losing contact with air-traffic controllers.
He was found alive by rescue workers about seven hours later, trapped in the seat of his aircraft, at the Gunung Pulai forest reserve near the town of Kulai.
He was transferred to Mount Elizabeth Hospital on Tuesday afternoon where he underwent an operation to set his broken right leg.
In Singapore, there is one other flight school – Seletar Flying Club – which is open to members of the public. Trainees have to clock 40 hours of flying to get a Private Pilot Licence (PPL), although most clock end up clocking an average of between 50 and 60 hours.
Once they have clocked about 20 hours, they are eligible to fly solo. The navigational component of the flying course is necessary for trainees to attain a full PPL which allows them to do cross-country flights.
Due to Singapore’s restricted air space, flight schools here are known to arrange tie-ups with their Malaysian counterparts.
28/01/09 Sujin Thomas/Straits Times, Singapore