Pilot training to resume at Jakkur flying school after four years

Pilot training courses are set to resume at the Government Flying Training School, Jakkur, after a gap of four years. The state government has also fast-tracked the runway work at the aerodrome and hopes to complete it in the next week.

Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports, and Sericulture K C Narayana Gowda inspected the runway work on Thursday and announced that flight training courses would resume “very soon”, with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai likely to inaugurate the programme.

According to Gowda, the flying training school currently has seven aircraft, five of which are in working condition. Of the five, three are old aircraft and two newly acquired. Three experienced pilots will train the students. The aim is to provide pilot training to 100 students every year, up from the previous intake of 40, he added.

The course will be 18 months long, and the fees will be Rs 37 for students from Karnataka and Rs 42 lakh for others. Students belonging to BPL families and reserved categories will be charged Rs 10 lakh, Gowda said.

Thirty-four students have already enrolled for the course, an official said.

The original runway at the aerodrome was 974 metres long but was cut by half because of the elevated corridor project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), crippling the operations of some chartered flights. Authorities have now planned to restore its original length by acquiring three acres so that the aerodrome can meet modern requirements.

“There is about 10 acres of land towards the eastern side of the runway. Three acres will be acquired soon for runway extension,” Gowda said.

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