Nagpur: After the encouragement from the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has cleared the deck to restart the Nagpur (NFC) flying club after a gap for more than four and a half years.
APEX’s body gave the ‘Certificate of Approval’ to the British era club for two years from Tuesday to November 15, 2023.
With this compulsory approval, the Maharashtra Government club can now recognize students to train and give them personal pilot licenses (PPL) and commercial personal licenses (CPL ) It is needed for airplanes in India.
Toi has tracked the development of NFC through a series of articles, since it was closed.
“Certification means we can officially restart our operations.
We can also buy new aircraft and demand funds from the government for this purpose.
Mahajyoti has given us our Crore funds to train OBC students here soon.
We will soon approach the government’s tribal department to offer Similar funds to train tribal students, “Commissioner of the Ected Division of Parajakta Lavangare Varma, to the Ex-Officio Chair, to the Toi.
He said he also wanted to get help from alumni in running a prestigious club which was once the pride of the city and had stirred several pilots, some even served in the Indian Air Force (IAF), while others flew commercial aircraft in India and abroad.
The NFC Care Manager Officer Manager, Pragnesh Sisodia said they would immediately start advertising that invited applications from aspirants.
“DGCA has given the four air feasibility certificates to our aircraft.
We will initially recognize the batch of 40 students and then expand their next numbers, once we start our operation in full mode.
They will be chosen through test-cum-cum-verbal.
We have pointed Assistant flight instructors and other land staff to run club operations and student training.
“HC has a major role to play in the reopening because it has directed all relevant authorities to make efforts to restart the club.
A pill (No.13 / 2016) was submitted by FLT Lthar Shridhar Ghate through Counsel Shriniwas Deshpande and then chased by his wife Sumedha, after the British era club stopped operating because of the government’s apathy.
Since 2003, Deshpande, who itself is an NFC alumni, has struggled for his resurrection without filling a penny.
HC even asked the government to provide RS1 Lakh to Deshpande to litigation fees to pursue cases.