Helping students to make the right choice: India news directs flying schools to display data on DGCA website
New Delhi: Commercial pilots in India will now be able to make an informed option for a flying training organization (FTO). In a major reform, on Friday (May 16), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed all flying schools in the country to “maintain a dedicated website for their organization”, which should have updated information about several parameters, with other things, among other things, minimum and maximum time was taken to take 200 hours of flight; Number of aircraft, trainer, designated examinees, ground schools and simulator.In addition to cleaning DGCA examinations and medical tests, completing 200 flight hours is a significant requirement to earn a commercial pilot license (CPL) in India. However, for a long time, it seems that many factors such as aircraft and many factors such as availability of trainers – in addition to other concerns such as training and quality of training in many schools – sends a large number of aspirations abroad abroad for CPL training every year for CPL training.
As reported by Toi on March 23, 2025, DGCA chief Faiz Ahmed Kidwai decided to bring transparency about FTOS, so that students would choose them based on the information in public domain, which would make them competitive, safe and adapt to the student. Setting that plan into speed, the DGCA on Friday wrote to all the flying schools in the country: “FTOs are advised to maintain a dedicated website for their organization. If a website is already in place, it should be updated regularly. The specified information should be displayed prominently and the reference to the cadets should be put forward on the website.With the plan to create students from art and commerce stream in class 12 for CPL, the number of aspirational pilots may increase considerably after the need to have physics and mathematics at that level.On their behalf, some FTO operators said on the condition of anonymity that they were forced by issues such as trainers. “Often the trainers are those who are still waiting for an airline job. The moment they become equal. Then FTOS hunt each other’s ‘good’ trainers. There are many issues that DGCA has to take care to ensure quick approval for trainers.Another flying school operator said: “The regulatory body has big issues to give computer numbers to pilot trainees. It may take one to five months. Booking of the examination slot is a cumbersome process, in which the website is unable to handle a large number of applications.“Technical deficiencies in the EGCA portal are causing inconvenience to users in executing regular tasks. Regular DGCA approval and improvement that can be done in a few hours takes several weeks due to technical deficiency. The issue of regulatory approval under ownership to import permits and regulatory approval takes a very long time. One can take a long time.With all these issues, India is to be a pilot, but is easy – right to get a job from the training phase.Improvements suggested by the association of flying training organizations for DGCA to help Indian flight training institutes compete globally:1. Addressing the shortage of licensed personnel: The association has urged DGCA to increase the frequency of examinations for all categories licenses, flight instructors and aircraft maintenance engineers (AAities). India’s flight training capacity can only expand when the trainer has a stable supply of qualified trainers and maintenance personnel to keep the aircraft running. An important concern is the “cooling period” of the compulsory six-week between the examination efforts, which the association sees as an artificial barrier that contributes to the lack of trainer and AME. DGCA has been requested to align frequencies with its examination policies and international regulators.2.Ensuring compliance with ground training requirements: The current system allows candidates to appear for CPL examination on self-study basis, yet the DGCA’s own civil aviation requirements (CAR section 7, Series D, Part I, Appendix VIII) make a DGCA-minimum 350-hour ground training in a DGCA-approved FTO. The FTO has strongly advocated for the enforcement of this requirement, claiming that the candidates who have completed ground training prescribed in only one approved FTO should be eligible to appear for CPL exams. This will not only ensure standardized knowledge, but will also strengthen the role of FTO in theoretical training.3. DGCA’s dual role as a regulator and service provider of DGCA: While the function of DGCA as a regulator is important, it should also provide efficient services to those license-training pilots, trainers, AIIMS and FTOS. This includes the timely processing of licenses and renewal, as well as other administrative works. Although DGCA issued the “standard of service” charters underlining the time limit for service distribution in 2014, stakeholders reported that the time limit rarely gets. The association insisted that DGCA should develop in an responsible service organization apart from being a regulator, especially if the Indian FTO should remain competitive with the International Training Centers.Finally, the success of the Make in India Initiative in the aviation sector depends on the operational efficiency and policy accountability of DGCA as it is on private sector participation and investment.
