A career of highs, a landing for new starts

Wg Cdr (Retd) Unni Pillai has been flying for about 30 years. The Chief Test Pilot (rotary wing) and executive director at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), set for retirement in March, does not appear to attach a lot to that personal high. There, perhaps, is a start, a new role in waiting. He tends to understate, when asked about takeaways from that career – How does he feel, as he calls it a day? “Satisfied”.

Pillai did his last flying display at an air show, with the indigenously developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), at the opening of Aero India 2023. “For a test pilot, getting involved in three projects (Advanced Light Helicopter, Light Combat Helicopter and LUH) is a blessing, all of them as CTP. I’ve been a part of them from the first flight to induction. LUH is also being handed over now. I’ve done my bit of work,” he told DH on the sidelines of Aero India.

Pillai has flown in international air shows including in Paris, Farnborough, Chile, Indonesia, and Turkey. He was part of the pilot team that carried out LUH’s hot and high-altitude trials in the Himalayas, in 2020.

If it is the first flight of an aircraft, the preparations practically start months ahead, with design-group briefings and exhaustive planning for eventualities. Mental prepping? A walk in the morning, followed by 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes of meditation – “It has helped me keep a clear head”.

As a young cadet, seeing his instructors becoming test pilots was an inspiration. After Pillai did his instructors’ course, he had two options – enter the instructional stream or start out as a test pilot. He was 29 when he made the choice.

Keeping it simple

There have been many mid-air challenges – despite the best of preparations, sometimes, the pilot is unable to comprehend the nature of a failure. “You try to absorb the behaviour of the aircraft and take a call on how safe it is to fly. The key is in not letting the fear get you. Once that is done, it is fairly simple,” he said.

Speaking on the potential of LUH, Pillai underlined the rising requirement in India for single-engine helicopters, especially in policing and emergency medical services. Increasing investor interest for the civil variant is encouraging, he said, considering how the helicopter fleet in the civil sector has depleted to below 200. “The regulators need to ease the stipulations so that helicopters could be used for what they are, not too restricted by specifications (like takeoff/landing infrastructure),” he said.

He has two words for aspirant test pilots – motivation and passion.

The CTP said he has seen HAL evolve, over two decades, into a proactive enterprise with a culture of schedule-bound delivery. What next? “I would like to do something on the manufacturing side, guiding people on new projects. It depends on where I can use the expertise,” he said.