Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Pilots ‘take off’ on A-320 simulator

PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Ready to fly: Pilots undergoing training on an Airbus 320 simulator at the Centre for Training Establishment. -

HYDERABAD: The very mention of winter makes airlines nervous due to thick fog cover in Hyderabad and elsewhere forcing them to either to divert or reschedule flights.

For cabin crew too, it’s a huge task to land a flight safely on the runway in smoggy conditions.

Frequent flyers, like politicians and the well-heeled from twin cities, on many occasions cancel appointments scheduled in other cities due to abrupt cancellation of flights.

Instances of air passengers getting stranded due to flight cancellations are also common in winter.

In its attempt to tide over such niggling worries, Air India has made Hyderabad its base to train its pilots on an extensive training protocol called as ‘Instrumental Landing System’ (ILS). The training is being given to pilots in the Airbus 320 flight simulator at the Central Training Establishment (CTE), Begumpet.

Courtesy ILS, manoeuvring the flight in heavy fog is handled with ease by Air India pilots, officials from the airline claim.

The training has helped pilots to operate planes safely even in zero visibility due to thick fog, a common sight at Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi.

A flight can easily touch down even if the height is 25-feet above the ground with a runway visual range of 100 metres.

“Our flight diversions are almost nil in winter because of this extensive training”, says CTE Executive Director (Training and Operations) Captain Ashok Raj. The ILS trains the pilots to land the flight in zero visibility with an auto pilot landing system, he explains.

The full flight simulator with six axis motion system and wide visual display was manufactured in Canada.

More than 2,000 pilots have been trained since the inception of CTE in 1958.

At present, over 825 pilots are undergoing training in it.

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