The Aero Club of India will lease out a Cessna-152 (in picture) to the Assam Flying Club

Guwahati, June 18: After being grounded for 14 long years, it is aiming for the skies once again.

The Assam Flying Club, the only aero club of the Northeast, is rising like the proverbial phoenix. Its attempt to spread its wings in 2002 was but a brief flicker, but now it is confident it will soar to the top.

The civil aviation ministry has decided to restore the club’s authority to issue commercial pilot licences (CPLs), the USP of any flying club.

The club had lost this distinction in 1988 since it did not have an experienced instructor for so long.

Assam Flying Club secretary Jatin Borchetia disclosed that the state government has also promised to release all funds for reviving the club, which has been inactive since 1988.

Though the government tried to revive the club in 2002, it failed to attract aspirant pilots since it was not competent to issue CPLs.

“This time there will be no turning back. The state government has promised that the club will run, and without a hitch,” he added.

With the Aero Club of India leasing out a Cessna-152 to the Assam Flying Club, it will host a special air show during the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations in Guwahati to herald its second coming, Borchetia revealed.

“The Aero Club of India has agreed, in principle at least, to lease out a Cessna-152. This will put the number of aircraft at our disposal at three. Besides, since there is an acute crisis of senior instructors, the office of the director-general in the civil aviation ministry has also agreed to relax certain criteria relating to the competence of instructors. That way, our instructor will be considered competent enough to train candidates for CPLs,” Borchetia added.

At present, the AFC has a Cessna-152 and a Pushpak MK-1 aircraft. But these have been denied their rightful space in the sky for years.

The flying club is located at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Borjhar, where it has its office and classrooms.

Though the club needs around Rs 50 lakh per annum, the largest tranche it has got so far was just Rs 15 lakh.

“But now the state government has assured us that there will be a steady flow of funds,” he added.

The club, set up way back in 1958, has till now awarded 540 private pilot licences and 28 commercial pilot licences. Assam produces less than 10 per cent of the country’s annual requirement of 700-odd commercial pilots.