As many as 40 student pilots of Odisha’s Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) stare at an uncertain future as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has withdrawn its approval for Pipistrel SW121 aircraft for the purpose of training commercial pilots.
This comes 18 months after the aviation safety regulator gave the green light to the trainer aircraft. A DGCA official, later suspended over corruption charges, had also been flown to Slovenia to conduct test flights.
Three students, who paid upto ₹40 lakh, and GATI, have now moved the Delhi High Court against the regulator’s “arbitrary and illegal” notification on February 26. The notification revised the aircraft’s categorisation, which effectively prohibits its use to train commercial pilots. The DGCA also refused to grant a commercial pilot’s license to the first three students who completed their training on the Pipistrel aircraft.
