The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Test Pilots School may admit candidates from abroad

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Friday, Feb 08, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Test Pilots School may admit candidates from abroad

Ravi Sharma

The intake of the school likely to be increased to 30

Flight test seminar on February 14, 15
16 countries participating in it

BANGALORE: For years there have been requests from a number of countries asking that their pilots and flight test engineers be trained at the IAF’s Test Pilots School in Bangalore at India’s premier establishment for the evaluation, testing and integration of old and new aircraft and weapon systems - the Aircraft Testing and Systems Establishment (ASTE).

The reasons, besides the monetary advantage, is because India is the only major airpower in the world that has an inventory of aircraft and ground systems that have been designed under Russian as well as Western design philosophies. According to the Commandant of the ASTE Air Commodore S. Matheswaran, the request, which is under consideration by the Government, could become a reality in 12 months.

Stating that the Test Pilots School was only one of a handful of such schools around the world, Air Commodore Matheswaran said the number of officers admitted to the one-year course would be gradually increased.

At present, each batch has 16 officers, with the general mix being six fixed wing pilots, four pilots from the rotary wing and the remaining being flight engineers. The Commandant said the growing demand from the aerospace industry for test pilots could see the annual intake go up to 30 over the next few years.

Seminar

Air Commodore Matheswaran announced that India’s first ever flight test seminar will be held in Bangalore on February 14 and 15. The international seminar will see 27 technical papers being presented and over 500 delegates from 16 countries taking part. It will not only celebrate 60 years of flight testing in India but also highlight and sensitise people to the importance of concurrent design and development, and flight testing activity.

“You have to involve flight test crews from the early stages of design itself, only then can they analyse, validate and suggest changes even while flight testing is going on. We have to learn lessons from major international flight test programmes on how to involve our flight tests crews as early as possible.”

The Commandant said the International Flight Test Seminar would seek to increase the level of interaction between Indian flight crews, designers and researchers with their overseas counterparts, and the aerospace industry.

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