Jakkur flying school set to be grounded?

The Government Flying School at Jakkur, an institution conceived by Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar in 1948, which gave the country its first woman pilot, has run into rough weather.

Activities at the school were halted for more than a decade around the turn of the century, and although classes recommenced in March this year, the school has been forced to curtail its activities again. Even permanent closure is a possibility as the school’s 211-acre campus falls directly on the path of the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) six-lane elevated project and the Bangalore Airport Rail Link’s (BARL) ambitious high speed rail (HSR) project. As with the National School of Drama, another elite institution which was asked to move out of its premises on Miller’s Road last month, the flying school’s future hangs in the balance.
While the NHAI project is yet to begin, construction work on the HSR has hampered flying classes. Pillars erected for the project are directly on the path of the runway. Take-off and landing procedures have been hit and aircraft have been grounded.
“With the construction of the pillars we have been forced to ground aircraft,” an official from the school said. “Now we are only conducting ground classes and teaching familiarisation of aircraft lessons in the hangars,” the official explained.
I R Perumal, principal secretary, youth and sports department, told Bangalore Mirror that the government was mulling ways to keep the flying school in operation.
“At the moment closure is only a rumour,” Perumal said. “The government is unwilling to sacrifice this prestigious institution for the sake of these projects. We are exploring alternative measures to see if we can still operate the school in spite of these projects.”
The government has set up an expert committee comprising officials from NHAI, BARL and the DGCA to decide on the school’s future. The public works department is also coordinating with the committee.
23/05/11 Niranjan Kaggere/Bangalore Mirror