Aero Club tells state flying school to return aircraft
Civil aviation official says Rajasthan State Flying School will be run on public-private partnership mode, aircraft maintenance to be outsourced
Aero Club of India has urged the state government to direct Rajasthan State Flying School (RSFS) in the state capital to return aircraft/motor gliders allotted by it to the school that was non-operational since 2008.
The aero club, in August 2015, re-allocated RSFS’ Cessna-152, Cessna-172 and Sinus-912 motor glider to Ahmedabad Gliding and Flying Club. RSFS, however, requested the aero club to cancel the re-allotment to keep alive the state’s lone flying school.
Aero Club of India is the apex body of all institutions engaged in flying training and aero-sports in the country.
In 2008, the anti-corruption bureau exposed a scam where trainees of the RSFS were given certificate for more flying hours than the actual. Since then, the school remains non-operational.
A civil aviation department official - wishing anonymity - said the aero club has repeatedly been asking to RSFS to return its aircraft/motor gliders for the past few years.
The aero club, in the letter to the state government on June 14, said a flying club, under regulations of Directorate General of Civil Aviation, requires minimum three airworthy aircraft for getting approval from DGCA as a flying training institute. At present, RSFS does not have that many aircraft in its fleet.
Besides, RSFS is not a DGCA – India’s aviation regulator - approved flying training institute, the letter said. In a reply to the letter on September 23, RSFS said the Rajasthan government was keen to resume flying activities at the school and huge amount of money has been spent towards building the necessary infrastructure.
The civil aviation department official said resources for key positions at RSFS have been short listed and the government has allotted budget to run the School.“RSFS would be run on public-private partnership mode and for the same tenders are in final stage. In addition to this, we are outsourcing maintenance of aircraft,” said the official.