Vivek applies for pilot license

After learning to fly a plane for Krissh 2, Vivek Oberoi applies for private pilot license, plans to buy own plane, will park it at Aamby Valley.

Vivek Oberoi is on a literal high. The actor recently learnt how to fly a plane for Krissh 2 and now he’s hooked. He says, “I’m planning to enroll for a private pilot’s license after I complete the mandatory hours of flying. I also plan to buy a small aircraft and park it at my home in Aamby Valley. They have an airstrip too. My enthusiasm seems to have rubbed off on Priyanka (wife) as well. She’ll do the course with me.”

For the sequel to the Hrithik Roshan film, the Kisna (2005) actor learnt to fly a Cessna aircraft — a tiny two-seater. “During training, you don’t fly too high so you can feel the wind and see the city from a top shot-wide angle. We went up to 2,000 ft. The difference between flying and being flown is like the one between being driven by a chauffeur and driving a sports car.”

However this isn’t Vivek’s first brush with flying. As a kid, he has sat in the cockpit and drilled pilots with numerous questions many times. “I was always so fascinated. Back then terrorism issues weren’t rampant and laws weren’t so stringent,” adds Vivek, who recently got a chance to fly in the cockpit of a navy jet when he was on a trip to Sri Lanka for a UNICEF social drive.

For now, Vivek has no plans to go abroad to train, as a friend of his has a flying school that operates in New Delhi, Jaipur and Aligarh. “Our country has very good flying schools that are equipped with good aircrafts and able trainers,” says the actor.

However, he is a bit jittery about the paperwork he will have to do. So will he use his own aircraft to travel within the country for his shoots? “There are very few airstrips. It may change over the next five to 10 years. As of now, there are too many hassles and permissions needed to fly from one city to another. You have to apply for commercial flying slots and so on. The airspace is always congested too, so no.”

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