With the advent of Microlights even the common man can now dream of owning an aircraft. Microlight technology has now reached the stage where it is competing with the conventional aircraft and proving to be much better off.
This blog shall be platform to clear doubts of aviation enthusiasts about general aviation flying in India vis-a-vis the world and promote flying, especially microlight flying not only for transportation but also for sport and recreation.
Keep flying...India
This blog shall be platform to clear doubts of aviation enthusiasts about general aviation flying in India vis-a-vis the world and promote flying, especially microlight flying not only for transportation but also for sport and recreation.
Keep flying...India
27 comments:
Hi...Hope this effort clears the many doubts we all have.
First & foremost - We all have a dream to fly- Now where to begin. Unlike a car which can be
- bought in a showroom,
- registration done,
- driving license obtained and
---- you are on the road.
The rules are known or for that matter you have agents which will facilitate this process at all stages till you can wizz past on the road. Rules for flying are NOT KNOWN or atmost only SKETCHY. There are no known "certified agents" who can ensure taht you can smoothly takeoff.
I am sure with this blog a lot of people will be unearthed in INDIA who know the process and ensure an affordable take off- which does not land you behind bars atleast.
True, the rules of flying in India are quite ambiguous but still some initiative has to be taken to get things straight.
As regards Microlight flying in India, the last AIC (Aeronautical Information Circular) was published in 1990 and since then everything has remained unchanged in terms of rules and regulations. But since 1990 there has been a drastic change in microlight technology, to such an extent that microlights are in certain respects even better than their higher powered single engine cousins (conventional aircraft). They have become more economical to fly, there performance has increased manifold and they are no more the fragile flying machines powered by motorcycle or lawn mower engines.
As the use of microlights increases in India, the authorities shall be forced to change their outlook towards these state of art flying machines. That day is not too far when microlights shall be a common sight in India being utilised for transportation as well as recreation.
The wait is only getting longer....
There is need for emergence of private flying clubs which :
- wil be fast and devoid of red tapism.
- facilitate many persons who can contribute to the cause but cannot due to lack of funds, family support et. al.
I am for a collective effort, contribution towards such a cause. CAN WE GET TOGETHER ON THIS BLOG
Yes, its true that there is a need of private flying clubs but first the public at large should be enlightened about the utility of aviation not only as a means of transport but also the most thrilling means of sport and recreation.
Collective effort is needed to rejuvinate aviation in India. At present if you ask any school or club in India for instruction only till PPL, either they refuse or say that they don't have such package.
I started this blog so that more and more enthusiasts join our community and convert India into a free nation in terms of aviation on the likes of Europe and the USA.
All of us should pledge to wake India from the deep slumber of red tapism and bureaucracy and REVIVE AVIATION.
JAGO INDIA JAGO...
Dear Sir,
I am interested in Gyroplane/Gyrocopter flying and would like to know more details about that. I went through the FAQ section in your website and it is quite informative. However I would appreciate if you can answer the following questions:
1. How much does a one/two seater gyrocopter cost in India ? How can I buy ?
2. Do I need a PPL to fly a gyrocopter?
3. Is there any place available in Kerala that teaches how to fly a gyrocopter?
4. What is the minimum flying hours that qualifies me to fly a gyrocopter?
5. What is the training cost?
I would appreciate if you can answer my above queries at the earliest.
Thanks & Regards,
Manjulal T N
Dear Sir,
Thanks for wrinting in, it was indeed quite encouraging to know that there people like you in India who really want to enjoy flying.
Now, as regards the answers to your questions:
1. As such till date there aren't any gyroplanes in India and therefore this is totally new kind of machine to be introduced in India. Gyroplanes can be introduced into India as experimental aircrafts and certified as such, but this has not happened till date. Our machine is set to be introduced into the Indian market as a microlight category gyroplane having an AUW of 450 kg. and a maximum of two seats. Introduction of this machine might take up some time because of the rules and regulations of the DGCA, therefore the exact price of the machine is yet to be calculated but roughly speaking it shall be costing around 40 lacs (INR) and you would probably see these machines in the Indian sky by mid 2009.
2. Yes, infact all you need to fly the Super Genie is a valid Private Pilot Licence and approx. 10 hours of hands-on on the Super Genie.
3. Gyroplane is a concept machine which predates the helicopter but still very new to India, we are the first ones to introduce it even to the DGCA and therefore I'm afraid there is no place in India where gyroplanes can be flown or learn't. I would advise you to find a good flying school and start doing your PPL asap, may be you might become Pioneer Pilot from Kerala or the whole of south India.
4. The cost of flying a Gyroplane is more than that of a microlight i.e. if a microlight consumes 12 liters per hour and gyroplane would consume upto 16 liters per hour, the difference in consumption make gyroplanes a bit more expensive than microlights but still minuscule in comparison to similar sized helicopters.
I think I've been able to satisfy your queries but even then if some questions remain unanswered, kindly mail me or talk to me directly on my cell.
Thanks and best wishes
Dear Sir,
Thank you so much for your reply. I will be checking out your site once in a while. The 40 Lacks price tag really put me off, but I can see a lot of gyrocopter sites with prices so less! Mostly home built and coming as a kit. I would definitely go for my PPL license soon like you had mentioned. A friend of mine settled in the US owns a gyrocopter. It seems they don’t need a flying licence there to fly a one seater gyrocopter! He was onto microlights before and we both have similar tastes in flying. He had to pay US $ 7800 2 years back to make and own his gyrocopter! It is a one seater aircraft. Looks like I will never own a gyrocopter myself while I am in India! For making my own 2 storied house with 2800 Sq. Ft. cost me R.s 43 lakhs here in Kerala. I really can’t digest the fact that I need to pay nearly that much amount for some aluminum tubing and a small 4 stroke rotax engine bolted onto them!
To be honest it is the cost factor limiting all the flying enthusiasts here in India! I really wish I could own a gyrocopter with less than R.s 2 lakhs! That brings another question to my mind. Can I import a gyrocopter to India in a dismantled fashion ? I am sure then the cost will be so less.
Thanks & Regards,
Dear Sir,
Yes, sure you can import a gyroplane in kit, assemble it and fly but what about certification. You'll have to get it certified as an experimental first and to get it certified as an experimental, the DGCA should have a person certified to certify the machine as an experimental gyroplane. You see you'll first have to teach them after which they shall certify and then only may be able to fly, this shall take long time and a lot of money.
Moreover the gyroplane you might import for less should have a good safety record because it is a well known fact in the aviation industry that only few gyroplane models produced till date have been successful enough, otherwise the accident rate has been quite high. There is no margin for error in a gyro, a minor problem and your machine is doomed.
Why I am telling you all this is because the machine we are bringing in is a tried and tested one, has an excellent safety record and that is one of the reasons it costs more. But this cost, that is 40 lacs is minuscule in comparison to conventional aircraft none of which cost less than 70 lacs to 1 crore apiece, what to talk of helicopters. All our machines which you can see on the site shall be priced between 35 to 45 lacs because all of them are state of the art and hi-tech microlights which can easily be compared to contemporary similar sized conventional aircrafts.
Anyway I appreciate your views and sincerely hope that future holds some good solution to your problem. Try to develop some more gyroplane lovers so that you all can contribute and buy a gyroplane as fractional owners (just an idea, if possible).
Do keep writing in...
Dear Sir,
Thank you for putting our conversation in the blog. I guess that will be helpful to other flight enthusiasts as well. While I was a child and at school, I happened to see the movie titles “Those magnificent men in their flying machines” directed by Ken Annakin and the movie inspired me so much. My brother is serving as a Squadron Leader pilot in the Indian Air force and the stories and experiences he told me also was an inspiring factor for me. I used to read lot of Aviation magazines from the US (subscribed to me by my cousins in the US). Mu favorite author was Richard Bach and his books relating to aviation was very inspiring. I made model airplanes while I was a kid and flew my first balsa wood rubber band powered airplane while I was at standard eight. I used to spend so much time to make that airplane that I often neglected my studies. I really wanted to be a pilot, but then somehow that dream didn’t materialize and I ended up as a software engineer! The “aviation flame”/passion is still inside me and I still has that dream inside me of one day flying/piloting an airplane. The cost factor is a real issue among us Indians. I am sure anybody with a mechanical mindset can easily fabricate a microlight/gyrocopter back in his/her home garage with some amount to spare. The materials are all around us and easily available it seems. Even if we did make one, like you had mentioned we need a airworthiness certificate from DGCA! But the hobby will be all around us and that will be fun just like HAM radio! We can have flying clubs all across our country. IF the government/flying clubs allowed us some sort of “pay as you fly” schemes in which it allowed us the own a microlight, that would bring LOTS of flying enthusiasts into this field. In my state in Kerala, there was once a flying carnival and they used to take us for a 10 minutes flight for Rs. 500 on a small microlight around town! I flew several times for several days on that paying as a much as R.s 5000 just to enjoy the thrill of flying! And the best part is there were LOTS of people who wanted to fly and see their town from the air. There were women and children and lots of girls too! I felt really happy to see that much people turned up! If I ever happened to own a microlight/gyrocopter I would definitely host carnivals like these and would then take people to the skies for maybe R.s 100/minute or so. That would still earn me more than R.s 10,000/day or more here in Kerala on a fine Saturday/Sunday!
I would still want to continue as a software engineer to find money for a living now that I have a family and all, but I want to be a pilot and want to introduce people to this hobby. I wish I had lots of money to fulfill that dream. I wish I had won a lottery! I wish someone just gave me some cash!
Dear Sir,
I just enquired about PPL license details at Kerala Aviation Training Centre located at Trivandrum, Kerala since that is the closest one for me. They said it will cost me R.s 7000/Hour for 40 flying hours plus additional registration/exam fees, etc and a R.s 5 lakhs deposit amount! And PPL training is a full time course it seems. The person who attended the phone was not very friendly at all and even hung up the phone without answering all my queries. I paused for a moment during our telephonic conversation and he just hung up! Maybe he was having a bad day I guess! Anyway I was thinking of taking up PPL as a part time course and now I have understood that it is not possible. I have also understood that PPL certification training is not for the common man! Absolutely not. Even if I manage to find the 5 lakhs required, I still need to resign from my present job and then take up the course for one year! Oh man! At this point of time that is unimaginable as I am the only earning member in my family. I need to repay my home loan, pay my insurance, child education, etc. etc. But I need to find a way and open up a PPL bank account. I also need to check and find if my company allows me to work on night shifts so that I can take up PPL training during the day. That will mean little or no spending of time with my family! But first and foremost I need to save cash to take up PPL which I hope I will one day.
Dear Sir,
I was really surprised and happy to talk directly with you. Thank you so much for calling me directly! It means a lot to me. Like I had mentioned I gave your site URL to many of my friends. Just now I have emailed my cousin in the US, details about you and your operations. He has lots of cash, so I am trying to see if he is interested in setting up a dealership here in Trivandrum J I am crossing my fingers on this now, chances are that he will turn me down as he is a married person. His wife might oppose this idea! (Too bad) Anyway I am expecting to get a reply from him soon. I will keep you posted on this. Once again thank you so much for taking time to read my emails, reply to them, talk to me personally, and for everything! I believe there is an inherent “urge to fly” passion in everyone of us, provided the cost factor is negligible. My dream is to setup and lead a company which manufactures microlights, provide guidance and training for microlights on a subsidized rate, set up factory showrooms with all models of microlights displayed, indigenously in-house developed engines and other parts for microlights thus bringing the cost down dramatically, even making electric/hybrid engine microlights and with catchy microlight advertisements on newspapers/television /internet. I am sure there will be lot of takers for this and this will be both profitable to the business as well as to the customers who love flight. Well…that was just a dream. Oh…and one more thing that needs to be added up in my dream is to setup a unit for Radio Controlled airplanes and this unit should be attached to the main factory which produces actual microlights. There is a tremendous scope for such a hobby here In India and besides it doesn’t cost the moon to own an RC airplane! I wish some investor saw this as a business potential and came forward, and I will be providing my investor with a generous supply of “Dreams” in return for the “money power” he/she will be providing with!
If wishes came true…sigh!
Thanks & Regards
hi! im Nishanth from chennai. Im a beginner to this hobby, microlight flying. I have a great craze, passion for flying right from my child hood. I used to make model planes and try to make them fly, have succeeded few times! later i wanted to fly microlights. so approached a club at bangalore and started to fly there. they charged me Rs.5000/hour and later it increased to Rs.6000/hour. the license for microlights will cost realistically 4lakhs finally.
I wanted to know a thing, is it better to go for PPL(conventional aircrafts like Cessnas) and then get into microlight flying, or go for directly microlight pilot license??
what will be the things i have to do to convert from a PPL to microlight PL? and cost?
First , i appreciate the intiator of Westwind Aviation to come forward and start a microlight club.... very few are there in India. Second ,it will be nice if the process of owning a microlight is competitively priced. Come forward and give some advertisements in good newpapers or magazines about sales and flying of microlights. I think this should reach the masses...may people have great intrest for flying but are unaware of microlights in India. We should make this popular in India.
Finally i would like to know what will be the cost of owning a basic microlight with all essential instruments ? for Rotax 582 and for jabiru2200?
Can you please tell me what should we pay finally( for a ready to fly model including registration and taxes) for a basic microlight?
im the same person Nishanth who wrote before....
i would like to add one more suggestion..... i have seen all the microlight models which you have put uo for sale....it looks like they will be upwards of 30lakhs.... why dont you also introduce microlights i n lower category like the X-air, X-air F , flight star or Zenith CH701???? X-air pr F or a flight star will cost only between 16 and 19lakhs i guess...... this will attract much more people.....some people instead of getting a second or a third car like Toyota Camry or a merc C-class can be targeted.... But its necessary that the buyer should have interest in flying or else its waste of time.....so if we could see some microlights on your website which can be owned with less than 18lakhs it would be really great...... its in the hands of you people(westwind aviation) to bring another category called entry level microlights....it will be really great.....even i have plans to own one in future, it will be of great help to people like me....... thank you.
I just want know the institutions in India and abroad for pilot training course and how much have to be spend for complete a course.
Dear Arul,
Since we do not provide training therefore are unable to provide any information regarding such institutions in India or abroad. However we have one or two companies based in Jaipur which send their students abroad (USA, Australia & Phillipines) for pilot training, if you are interested we can provide you details regarding them. If you are interested kindly send an email to lightsportaircraft@gmail.com so that we can address your problem in a proper manner
Dear Mr. Nagraj,
Kindly contact me directly on lightsportaircraft@gmail.com
Thanks
I contacted you at lightsportaircraft@gmail.com. But there was no reply. I sent a mail today to info@microlight.in. I have serious plans to buy a microlight. I need details. Kindly check your inbox. Mail was sent today at 9:15 p.m.
Regds,
JJ
I am sorry but I have not received any email of yours.
Kindly send another email at info@microlight.in so that I can get in touch with you directly.
Best Regards
Wow!!
This 'blog' provides with information, resources and avenues on a subject that I have been avidly researching for the past two years.
I was happily content thinking that I am probably going to be the first one in the country to do something, which Mr Vibhuti has already done so many years back.
CONGRATULATIONS.
I have just come across this site, and blog page today.
Will get in touch with you through your email, or better still, might meet up with you in Jaipur.
Just give me a few days to get my thoughts together.
Useful Forum and Congratulations to its contributors..!
Can anybody tell me..what is the process of license CONVERSION for micro lights from a foreign country to Indian license..? Would a micro lights with FLOATS come still under micro light category and fly with micro light rating?
Finally, if some people wish to join together and fly for fun, what can be the hurdles or how to get permissions from DGCA?
Dear capt singh
I am also an enthusiat flyer. Just got my cpl but too much keen to learn and design things. And now targeting to bring flying to common man.
I have designed a microlight (I have my own blueprints for everything) which can be made in in less than 1,000,000 Rs (or 10 lakh Rs). Or may be too much less then that, depending on the size of aircraft. Ofcourse registration and other charges are different but for sure they will be much less than the price of a/c itself.
Lets wish india to be on the top of chart in field of aviation.
I will be looking out for your reply capt. singh.
An enthusiast
Hello,
I wonder everything has ben stpped from Microlights Capt. Vibhootisingh after these blogs. I could not find any latest information about the so much tauted plans, and am quite disappointed on this.
If anyone can give me further info about MPL and buying detail of Microlight please send me mail at sunilkwall-456@yahoo.com
Thanks
Sk
hello sir,am mohanram.i have finished my 11th.i wanna buy a microlight.is that possible for me to fly that in india.if yes,what is the cost of flex wings in india??
dear sir,
can you guide in setting up of a flight training school in india, pls tell us the details abt it as indivisual nd or if v start thru a big name institution which will be easy to start we plan to start wid microlights nd than gradually wid bigger crafts, how much hlp you cn provide us in it nd how much time it will take.
regards
shivi
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