Honeywell engineers learn to fly to design better products

US-based technology company Honeywell International Inc. is training its aerospace engineers in India to fly planes to give them a better understanding of how avionics systems perform in real time.
Some engineers from the first batch of eight, trained in August, have already come up with three new product ideas, said a Honeywell executive, declining to be identified or describe the ideas.
Krishna Mikkilineni, president of the Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab (HTSL) in Bangalore, confirmed the pilot training programme for the company’s engineers.
Honeywell initially sent three engineers from India to the US to take flying lessons. But “since it was not feasible to send engineers to the US for (a) longer duration, we decided to do the training in India”, said a third Honeywell executive.
The company spent around Rs.15 lakh for an engineer in training and other expenses. It wants to train 60 engineers over the next four years, the executive said.
HTSL has tied up with the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy (APAA) in Hyderabad for the pilot training.
One of the engineers from the programme said he and his team have drawn up a new design for landing gear after the training. A second batch of seven engineers is undergoing pilot training at APAA.
Honeywell engineers who have obtained student pilot licences will sit for tests conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in January for private pilot licences, said Reddy, who was a flying instructor at Air India for three decades.
22/12/10 Bhargavi Kerur/Live Mint

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2010