Imagine you apply for a driving licence and the road transport officer says: "I don't know driving. So how will I give you a licence?" Flummoxed? Pop comes a solution. The officer says: "Psst! Let me first learn driving but you will have to bear the cost of my driving lesson." Preposterous, right? A similar rule exists in Indian aviation.
Seriously. It is there on Page 71 of the CAP3100 manual, a 'guide' created by the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for people who apply for an air operator's permit to start charter services.
If an applicant imports an aircraft that is unfamiliar to a DGCA flight operations inspector (FOI), it is the responsibility of the applicant to train the FOI, says the rule.
Training an FOI is of course far more costly than car driving lessons. It will set back an applicant by at least Rs 30 lakh because it involves flying the officer abroad where the aircraft maker is located, paying for accommodation and hiring simulators and training aircraft, among other expenses.
12/04/15 Binoy Prabhakar/Economic Times
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Seriously. It is there on Page 71 of the CAP3100 manual, a 'guide' created by the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for people who apply for an air operator's permit to start charter services.
If an applicant imports an aircraft that is unfamiliar to a DGCA flight operations inspector (FOI), it is the responsibility of the applicant to train the FOI, says the rule.
Training an FOI is of course far more costly than car driving lessons. It will set back an applicant by at least Rs 30 lakh because it involves flying the officer abroad where the aircraft maker is located, paying for accommodation and hiring simulators and training aircraft, among other expenses.
12/04/15 Binoy Prabhakar/Economic Times
