Night-landing facility at Jakkur flying school in two months

Karnataka has decided to enable night landing at its Government Flying Training School’s (GFTS) runway.

Authorities are also making a fresh attempt to extend the GFTS runway under a project that seeks to leverage the potential of the state’s oldest flying school that trains aspirants for personal and commercial pilot licences.

Officials said work on the night landing is likely to begin in the next two months, helping GFTS begin training in its own facility rather than depend on Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which involves additional expenditure and time needed for clearance.

Basavaraddappa Ronad, secretary of GFTS, said the night-landing facility will boost the school’s training capacity. “The chief minister has announced that the intake will be increased to 100 students. The night-landing facility will strengthen our commercial pilot training programme and attract more students,” he said.

Besides those completing their training, the school has selected 22 candidates who applied for training after fresh notification.

“Of them, 10 sought admission. While some candidates are waiting for scholarships from social welfare and other departments, a few others are waiting for medical examinations,” he said.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 46.90 lakh and will be completed within 45 days after the commencement of the work. “We are targeting completion all the works within the next two or three months,” Ronad added.

Runway extension soon

The Department of Sports and Youth Welfare has decided to go ahead with the night-landing project instead of waiting for the planned runway extension. Officials said a proposal made in 2020 for the extension of the 974-metre runway by about 200 metres has been revised.

“The previous proposal lapsed as it couldn’t be followed up due to the pandemic and other reasons. Last year, we made a fresh proposal for the extension of the runway. The land acquisition proposal has been sent. Now, a social impact assessment survey has to be conducted. The deputy commissioner will form a committee soon to look into the matter,” a senior official said.

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