Capt Ankisha Awasthi: Captain Pinaki and Captain Sushmita [ Sush ]

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Captain Pinaki and Captain Sushmita [ Sush ]

Captain Pinaki and Captain Sushmita [ Sush ]

Extract from book

As a Son of AirIndia Captain I was always with Airplanes,
My Story seeks out the special few who have answered
the call of the skies, those with the discipline, aptitude
, and courage to become
Pilots. Life in hangars and homes, at Airport
restaurants and on ramps, My Story
tells the story of flight in the words of Pilots
themselves. What it means to fly
an airplane all alone for the first time on my 1st Solo.
What it means to fly an airplane for the
last time. The easy rapport one can have with a person
who is a complete
stranger but for the shared experience of flying.

And the excitement that consumes Pilots at the opportunity
to share this world
of aviation with non-Pilots, Airport communities,
community leaders, and anyone
else who will keen to listen a born Pilot.

My Story is a saga for anyone who has sat all alone in
an Aircraft, firewalled
the throttle, charged down the runway, and rotated. And
especially for those
who might if given the chance. For most people, the sky
is the limit. For a Pilot,
the sky is home and Airplane is my Office.

This is the story of the journey home. A Pilot's Story.

I am a Pilot

When I was young, I never even imagined that someday I
would simply be mad
about Aircrafts and flying. On my third birthday my dad
asked me what kind of Birthday cake
you wants ? My answer was so obivious an Airplane Shaped
cake.
On my trip abroad, to Singapore, I bought the Observer's
Book of
Aircraft by William Green, this changed my world
completly. It had all the different
kinds of airrafts one could see at that time with their
full specifications. The book
increased my vocabulary, I got to know technical details
of various Aircrafts, their
type, seating, powerplant, cruising speed, armament,
country of origin, dimensions,
service ceiling, endurance, range, etc.

Soon I was nicknamed Pilot by my friends, whenever they
used to see any Aircraft,
they used to enquire about it from me. I started to
correctly recognise even those
Aircrafts which were flying at very high altitudes. Even
my ears got trained for the
slightest sound which resembled the drone of an Aircraft
engine. I could tell well in
advance that whether the approaching aircrat was a piston
engine, a turboprop,
a jet or a chopper.

Just a single book changed my whole life, I became an
aviation enthusiast. Soon I
started to buy all the good books related to aviation I
could lay my hands on. By the
time I reached the age of 18 years, that is the time I
finished my schooling, I had a
library, full of books on Aircrafts and other related
fields.

One day when I passd my Schooling ,The next day my dad
took me to the office
of the local flying club and enrolled myself as a student
Pilot.
Within 14 months of my joining or after exactly 15 Hrs
of flying hrs on Pushpak MKI and
Cessna 150 Airplane, I was ready to go solo,
all alone, no one would accompany me, it would be just
me and my Cessna 150 Airplane.
glider, flying free, like a bird. I readied for the flight
, checked the elevator, ailerons, rudder and
airbrakes, they were all working, checked the altimeter,
variometer, slip-skid indicator,
pitot tube, speedometer, they all seemed well. Wow I am
a Captain [ Commanding and Piloting
Aviator In Navigation ] now.

Now I could call myself a Pilot, a real AVIATOR ....
MY 1st DREAM COME TRUE...

But actual problem started after my 1st solo. Now this
is the time I realise why
every Indian Pilot hates DGCA and Indian Officials. Now
I am getting my flights
once a week or twice a month making me so frusted. After
waiting for 17 months
I got my Indian Private Pilot Certificate. Now I decided
to continue it in USA.

Land in America

Capt Richard had tought time to get Pinaki back on right
flying. Every day he was learning

many new terms of flying. James Golfin [ Jimmy ] was his
flight Instructor. Jimmy was a very cool Pilot so Pinaki
was bit relexed to

learn flying.

2004

Back to India, No jobs available here, So again my old
flying club to
join as Assistent Pilot Instructor under the same CFI.
It is very difficult for Pinaki to Cop with

Indian Flying style as its still very old fashiond.
Adjusting with Indian flying culture he

started teaching Pilots in Indo - US style. He was not
at all happy with the culture but had

no option, his frustation was increasing as days passing. But his logboog getting hrs day by

day so he started prepration for his ATPL and he cleared
all his pappers too. Still he had

about 1200Hrs only 300hrs more to get an ATPL licence.
Aviation is not so much a

profession or a hobby as it is a disease.

AirIndia released advertisement for Trainee Co-Pilot for
Boeing 737 Aircraft. He applied and
left his API Job to prepare for his AirIndia exam.
AirIndia declared resut after 9 months and
by dafault Pinaki got no 1 position. Thanks to his
wonderfull US flying Experience and awfull

Indian Assistent Flight Instructor's Experience. He always
tell his student Pilot, Learn from

the mistakes of others -- you won't live long enough to
make all of them yourself. But they

are not ready to listen him much.

Pinaki met another Pilot Captain Sushmita [ Sush ] at
DGCA for her Conversion from

Canadian CPL into Indian DGCA CPL. She was trying to get
it since last 4 months but all
vain. Pinaki helpd her to get her licence within 7 days
with all formalities done. Of course
that cost them only couple of bucks before they could get
CPL in hand, but thats the culture

Indian DGCA has. Sush was so happy with her licence in
hand, as she had lost all her hopes

before. She kissed Pinaki in DGCA office only.

To celebrate this, Captain Pinaki Invited Captain
Sushmita [ Sush ] at Hotel Taj for Candle

light dinner, they both were so excited that both
reached Taj almost an hour before their

schedule time. Captain Pinaki proposed Captain Sushmita
just after the dinner, which Sush
accepted immidiately. This was most happening day for
Captain Pinaki and Captain

Sushmita both were flying on cloud seven.

Time flown very fast and its time for Sush to get back to
Canada, as her whole family lives
in Canada, even she born and brought up in Canada only.
Her Dad had a small flight school
and a Air Charter Services at a Monatoba, north Canada,
which was also not doing well due
heavy recession in Aviation. Captain Sushmita, was a CFI
there but she wanted to fly for an Airlines, which was
bit difficult in Canada due to recession, So she decided
to get her Indian CPL.

AirIndia was suffering from heavy losses, So they
cancelled further expansion plans and so no more hiring
for Trainee Co-Pilot for Boeing 737 Aircraft. Pinaki
wanted 300 more flying
hours before he could apply for issue of Indian ATPL.
So he decided to join one Indian company based out of
Guwahati to fly their King Air B 200. Though he was paid
very bad
he join to get flying hours. He was flying with Wg. Cdr.
Aman Sing who was an ex Air force Pilot, No civil
Aviation or International Aviation Exposure, but had a solid defence attitude
problem like any other defence Pilot. As soon as Pinaki got his 1510 hrs on his Logbook he
left this job and reached again Indian DGCA with lot of docments and lot of bucks to be paid
as and when required. At any cost he wanted to get his ATPA asap. He met with Mr Rajan same tout at DGCA who helped Captain Sushmita to get her Indian CPL. Pinaki paid him big amount then usual bribe and Rajan promised him to get his work in next 7 days. These
7 days were like 7 years for Captain Pinaki. The only relif he had was skype and black berry
calls of Captain Sushmita [ Sush ] as she was the only soul on the earth who could understand his situation.

Monday sharp 1000 hrs Pinaki was at DGCA looking for Mr Rajan, but he was not there till
1030 so he clled him on his mobile which was switchd off and No reply at home landline, so he reached DGCA reception, but his documents were not there. Receptionist was not ready to
listen him. He paid him a big bucks, to get him ready to listen him. After taking big bribe he
opened his mouth and inform him that no file is there in Indian DGCA office even. At 1300hrs Rajan picked up his mobile phone and informd him that he is in Banglore due some important work and DGCA rejected his ATPL application as he needs minimum 1000hrs as
PIC to get his ATPL issued. And if he needs his papers back he would needs to pay big sum of money to another DGCA agent Mr Kuldeep. He paid and got his original documents back. At least he has live Indian CPL in hand.

Captain Pinaki was so depressed with the situation, Captain Sushmita invite him at her flight school to get Canadian ATPL. He immidiately accepted the offer and flown to Monterial with Dad Captain Ravi who was operation same sector on Boeing 747.

Remaining part please read in book coming soon .........

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