By Krishna Kumar ET
MUMBAI: An Indian pilot’s quest to fly an aircraft that he built on the rooftop of his house has become so entangled in red tape that after waiting for almost six years for approvals – even with the involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office – the frustrated aviator is preparing to head to the US with the project.
Amol Yadav, a pilot with a private airline who lives in Mumbai, thought he had everything going for his dream. He built a six-seater aircraft, which was featured in the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, on the terrace of his Charkop home. He had the backing of the Maharashtra government, which, impressed with his efforts, offered him land and funds to build 19-seater planes. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had even apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the project.
Yadav is now on the verge of completing his 19-seater aircraft, which would be the first to be built indigenously. That’s something the National Aerospace Laboratories hasn’t been able to achieve even after working for several years and sinking in crores of rupees.
Yet with his prototype a few months away from completion, Yadav is exasperated. His six-seater plane hasn’t taken off, which means his 19-seater aircraft project will be held up. All his efforts have been throttled by regulatory hurdles.
While the Maharashtra government has tied up with Yadav and plans to allot him land, it firsts wants a demonstration of the six-seater in flight. However, the aviation regulator has consistently refused to register Yadav’s aircraft over the years,effectively denying him the ability to demonstrate it can fly. Directorate General of Civil Aviation, according to the Maharashtra government, has created road blocks for the project even after the PMO put in a word.
Not surprisingly, Yadav is disillusioned, especially in the context of the government’s attempts to make doing business in the country easier and the ‘Make in India’ programme, aimed at encouraging local manufacturing and increasing jobs.
“I felt very encouraged by ‘ease of doing business’ and the ‘Make in India’ initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Yadav. “However, I have realised that while the PM may be passionate about these initiatives, for the rest of the these are just slogans.” Yadav’s primary hurdle is DGCA, the regulator, which has stalled his endeavour.
After he applied to register his six-seater plane under the experimental aircraft category in 2011, DGCA kept dilly-dallying. In 2014, the regulator scrapped the experimental aircraft clause, would have enabled amateurs to build planes, from the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), a set of regulations for the sector. The new rules allow only planes manufactured by companies to fly.
To resolve the issue, Fadnavis met Modi on April 14 in Nagpur and briefed him about Yadav’s aircraft. Following the discussions, the chief minister wrote to the PM about Yadav’s application pending with the DGCA. “He followed up regularly only to know that in July 2014, DGCA arbitrarily deleted this entire set of regulations making it impossible for anyone building experimental aircraft to apply for the same. It is not known why such a step was taken,” Fadnavis wrote.
Fadnavis met Modi again in New Delhi in the last week of April, following which Sanjeev Kumar Singla, the PM’s private secretary, was called in and asked to get involved with the DGCA.
Still, the DGCA refused to budge. In fact, the regulator uploaded a new draft CAR on August 28 with provisions that would ensure that no one in the country could hope to build an experimental aircraft.
One revised provision stipulates the maximum weight of a new aircraft should not exceed 1,500 kg, just below the 1,600 kg Yadav mentioned in his application. This is unusual because in countries that encourage aircraft manufacturing such as the US, there are no weight restrictions. The DGCA also states in several places that aircraft should be built as per minimum standards, without specifying what those norms are.
ET sent Singla two detailed questionnaires regarding the status of Yadav’s application, which he forwarded to DGCA for a response. DGCA joint director Lalit Gupta contacted this reporter on September 26, saying he was calling to respond to the questionnaires sent to Singla. ET tried to get in touch with JM Thakkar, public relations officer in the PMO, seeking Singla’s comments.
However, there has been no response. ET sent DGCA 17 questions related to the matter, including one on why it scrapped the provision for approval of experimental aircraft. The regulator did not answer most of the queries and said it was only following the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency. ET checked the ICAO rules, which don’t ask any member country to deny registration to anyone building an aircraft.
DGCA told ET it is in touch with Yadav and other stakeholders to frame a new CAR. However, Yadav said that the DGCA, in discussions with him, reiterated that his aircraft would not be permitted to fly.
Now, Yadav has approached the US Federal Aviation Authority to register his aircraft there “I am giving myself a month’s time if I am not able to get funds, then I invite the people of Mumbai to a unique funeral where I will take my six-seater aircraft to Bandra Kurla Complex, where it was first showcased during the ‘Make in India’ week, and then take a hammer and break it down because our country doesn’t like to encourage enterprise by the common man,” said Yadav.
Boost For Manufacturing Sector
An indigenous 19-seater plane such as the one that pilot Amol Yadav built, would be a boost for India’s aircraft manufacturing industry and help create jobs in the sector. Such aircraft would promote boost regional connectivity and airlines would find it viable to fly them to smaller airports instead of deploying 40- or 70- seater planes that are harder to fill for such destinations. More flights to smaller cities would in turn promote tourism in these areas. Such planes are also useful as private and business charter aircraft, which are used by by wealthy individuals and companies.
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