Hyderabad emerges as hub for drone pilot training; four schools get nod

According to DGCA, four out of the 10 institutions that have got approvals so far for operating drone-training schools are based out of Hyderabad

Hyderabad is fast emerging as a hub for drone pilot training as with use of these unmanned aerial vehicles gaining widespread acceptance in the recent months.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), four out of the 10 institutions that have received approvals so far for operating drone-training schools are based out of Hyderabad. They include Wings Academy, Flytech Aviation Academy, Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy and Telangana State Aviation Academy. After receiving the approval, these institutions can now conduct training courses for pilots and issue licences in order to bring standardisation into this emerging sector in the country.
 

"Telangana is fast emerging as the drone hub of India given the close collaboration between a highly supportive state government, academia, aerospace industry and local startups. We hope other states leverage the full power of drones, too,” said Amber Dubey, joint secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Head of the Drones Division.

This comes at a time when the DGCA has allowed bodies under Central and state governments, government-approved universities, and private drone makers, to set up drone pilot training schools last month. This is seen as a move where the government is simultaneously readying pilots even as its fast-tracks the process for allowing drone delivery and surveillance operations. The aviation regulation body has so far allowed 13 consortia for conducting experimental Below Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. These consortia have been asked to perform long-range flying tests for 100 hours each and submit the reports containing analytics and logs of the flight time to the aviation regulator by September end.
 

Weather, which is suitable for flying throughout the year, is also one of the reasons why Hyderabad has always been a hub for civil aviation, and now the same is the case for drones, said Captain Mamatha J, chief executive officer, Flytech Aviation Academy. "The city has Air India's biggest training establishment - Central Training Establishment - since 1958 and we also have two major air force bases at Dundigal and Hakimpet."
 

"The reason behind DGCA's approval is to bring standardisation in the process and will help create safe and responsible pilots," said Praneet Kumar, business development manager (Drones) at Wings Aviation, one of the drone pilot training schools that has received the DGCA approval. The framework is similar to aviation pilots receiving flying licences, he added.

Wings Aviation has received the permission to conduct training in Nadergul which is located in the outskirts of Hyderabad and is in the process of getting another site approved.

The courses will follow the training curriculum laid out by the DGCA. It involves practical training such as simulator training, assembling and disassembling of the device and practical flying along with theoretical classes. The flight instructors, too, have been undergoing master training since 2018 under the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) in New Delhi.
 

Drone operations have received a boost during the pandemic with several of those been deployed for sanitisation and effective crowd-management during lockdowns. However, the benefits that drones offer are not just limited to overcoming pandemic related challenges. "More than aerial photography and data gathering, it is the analytics, insights and prescriptions which provide the real value add to the end-user. This is where India’s deep strength in data analytics will play a major role,” Dubey added.
 

There were already around 22,000 drones registered with DGCA and another 20,000 of those which are in the process of getting registered. "Going forward, we will need at least 50 schools with approvals to cater to the growing demand even if each school trains around 400-500 aspirants a year on an average," added Captain of Mamatha Flytech Aviation Academy.