Features Procedures Safety & Training
Pilot Training Program at CAE Global Academy India

The program will lead to a commercial helicopter pilot licence (CHPL) and within three years is expected to graduate approximately 100 new helicopter pilots annually.

CAE Global Academy Gondia is the newest and most modern flight school in India, opened two years ago to train aspiring airline pilots. Also known as the National Flying Training Institute Private limited (NFTI), the school is a joint venture of AAI and CAE. Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, the largest helicopter operator in India, is a minority shareholder of NFTI and will provide expertise and operator insights into the new training program.

"The civil and military sectors in India will require close to 2,500 helicopter pilots over the next 10 years," said V.P. Agrawal, Chairman of AAI. "Current development of new helicopter pilots is insufficient to meet this requirement, so CAE Global Academy Gondia is stepping up to fill this important need to support continued aviation growth in India."

This represents CAE's first ab initio program for rotary-wing pilots, adding to CAE's extensive experience, infrastructure and capabilities in fixed-wing ab initio pilot training.

"The world-class training at the CAE Global Academy will prepare and position students to land their first jobs as helicopter pilots," said Jeff Roberts, CAE's Group President, Civil Simulation Products, Training and Services. "The helicopter ab initio program will blend CAE's global best-practices training methodology, simulation-based training and flight training to meet and exceed Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines."

The new CAE Global Academy Gondia campus features state-of-the-art classrooms, training devices, and aircraft as well as comfortable, air-conditioned accommodations. In November, a new sports complex was opened. The new helicopter ab initio program will incorporate about a dozen training helicopters, as well as flight and navigation procedures trainers (FNPT).

Helicopter ab initio student enrollment is expected to begin in late 2011, and will use the CAE Aircrew Selection System — a  multidisciplinary process designed to evaluate a candidate's "thinking and doing" capabilities in a contextual aviation environment and under stress.

Following graduation from the CAE Global Academy Gondia with a CHPL, pilots would be prepared for type-rating training on a specific helicopter type. The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), a joint venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, offers type-rating training at its training centre in Bangalore.