Bhunaseswar: The Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) celebrates 70 years this year, coinciding with the birth centenary year of ace pilot, freedom fighter and former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik, one of its founder members and the key person behind its growth.
Established as Orissa Flying Club in 1946 to impart flying and ground training to commercial pilots, the institute churned out hundreds of pilots, faced intermittent closure, financial huddle, before bouncing back into its current avatar under the public-private partnership mode.
Though the institute has gained popularity again and attracting students from different parts of the country, very few from Odisha come here for training for the lack of state government scholarship, unlike other states.
Capt R B Mohapatra, who was the chief flight instructor of GATI from 1972 to 2000, recalls how Biju Patnaik took personal interest in grooming aspiring men and women to take up flying as a career.
"He would provide support, including financial, to aspiring youths. That is a reason why so many pilots were produced in the state so early though the club lost its track when demands for aviation as a career option had reached its peak in 2000," he said.
06/08/16 Ashok Pradhan/Times of India
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Established as Orissa Flying Club in 1946 to impart flying and ground training to commercial pilots, the institute churned out hundreds of pilots, faced intermittent closure, financial huddle, before bouncing back into its current avatar under the public-private partnership mode.
Though the institute has gained popularity again and attracting students from different parts of the country, very few from Odisha come here for training for the lack of state government scholarship, unlike other states.
Capt R B Mohapatra, who was the chief flight instructor of GATI from 1972 to 2000, recalls how Biju Patnaik took personal interest in grooming aspiring men and women to take up flying as a career.
"He would provide support, including financial, to aspiring youths. That is a reason why so many pilots were produced in the state so early though the club lost its track when demands for aviation as a career option had reached its peak in 2000," he said.
06/08/16 Ashok Pradhan/Times of India
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