‘India needs better standards in flight training’

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: Jeff Roberts, Group President, Innovation and Civil Training & Services, CAE

As group president he doesn’t get much time to fly aeroplanes. But flying still remains his first love, and it was to ensure that more Indian pilots get world-class training that he was recently in the Capital. “We have just concluded an agreement with the Government of India to provide pilot training in the two national flight academies — Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Akademi (IGRUA) and the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute (RGNFTI). Starting with 200 students at each of the institutes in the first year, we expect the intake to go up to 1,000 students in the coming years,” says Jeff Roberts, group president, innovation and civil training & services, CAE.

CAE will transform both schools into centres of excellence for India, leading the Indian market in the delivery of a complete range of high-quality aviation training programmes. “We are pleased that the Indian government has recognised CAE’s expertise in creating and managing world-class flight-training organisations. We understand that India needs to develop a solid infrastructure and implement state-of-the-art standards in flight training. These two academies, together with our upcoming training centre in Bangalore , will help address the urgent need for pilots throughout the region.”

With both IGRUA and RGNFTI becoming members of the CAE Global Academy, Roberts sees CAE’s activities in India growing. “The aviation industry in India has been at the forefront of the growing Indian economy. We expect the various airline companies in India to grow exponentially — this means more pilots, technicians, flight attendants, technicians and ground handling staff will be needed in the next few years — and we will be providing them training curriculum, courseware and innovative training methodologies,” he says.