Take-off: The aspiring pilots at the Tribal Research Institute in Morabadi, Ranchi, in 2011

No more a pie in the sky — at least for now.

The state-sponsored commercial pilot training programme for youths from scheduled tribe (ST), scheduled caste (SC) and other backward class (OBC) categories, took off in July for the third time since 2010 after being grounded for over a year.

On July 1, a batch of eight students left for Sagar in Madhya Pradesh to join Chimes Aviation Academy. The next batch of nine students will leave for Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh on July 7 to join Saraswati Aviation Academy. Both the batches need to complete 160 more flying hours in around eight to 10 months.

Before awarding a commercial pilot’s licence, aviation training schools in India offer over 200 flying hours for students, including experience as pilot-in-command, night-time flying, cross-country and other technical categories.

But in the past three years, thanks to truncated training stints, they could hardly manage some 60 flying hours.

Also, the number of trainees now stands at 17, whittled down sharply from the original 30 in 2010.

Since 2010, as the course shifted gear from commercial flying academies across Hyderabad and Bilaspur with large gaps in between, many students left it, dismissing it as a flight of fancy. Two students were also killed in a road mishap this year.

But, those who are still in, feel the state-sponsored scheme is their only shot at landing well-paid jobs as commercial airline pilots.

“We are happy our training has resumed. This time we think we will be able to complete our pilot training and bag airline jobs,” said Harilal Bhagat, a trainee pilot hailing from Naxalite-hit Lohardaga.

The prod to resume the commercial pilot training course came on March 11, when governor Syed Ahmed’s advisory council gave it the go-ahead.

The two aviation schools — Saraswati Aviation Academy in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and Chimes Aviation Academy, Sagar in Madhya Pradesh — were roped in. In mid-June, the office of the tribal welfare commissioner, which functions under the state’s welfare department, inked agreements with the aviation institutes.

“This time, we hope all students will complete their training and fulfill their dreams of becoming commercial pilots,” tribal welfare commissioner Rajesh Kumar Sharma told The Telegraph.

In 2010, state welfare department sent 30 youths selected via an entrance exam to Hyderabad’s Spica Airlines and Aviation Academy for an 18-month training programme, with around 200 hours of flying training. It was proposed that the state would spend Rs 24.5 lakh on each student for the training.

Within a month, students were back. The Hyderabad cradle did not have the licence to give commercial training. Two students dropped out.

Then, the welfare department selected Sai Flytech Aviation, Bilaspur, to send the 28 youths in November 2010. After 10 months and 60 hours of training, students were sent back, apparently after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation cancelled the academy’s licence due to a technical snag. Three more students opted out of the programme.

The wait for the remaining 25 started from October 2011.

The March 2013 development at the governor’s office rekindled hope, but two trainees Shivnandan Kumar of Dhurwa and Nilesh Kumar of Namkum died in a road accident on April 29 evening.

Of the remaining 23, six did not show up when the office of the tribal welfare commissioner said the training would resume. “They are not in touch. It is tough to say why they opted out,” a trainee said.