Hyderabad: Not many people know that the Indian Air Force Station at Hakimpet houses Asia’s largest helicopter training school.
This training school is the largest in terms of infrastructure, the number of training helicopters available, and the number of cadets that pass out every six months.
So far, six women and hundreds of men have trained at this school and qualified as helicopter flying instructors.
The helicopter station has 25 Chetak helicopters, of which one was recently used in a mock rescue operation conducted at the Hussainsagar. The station provides cadets with advanced training in the conduction of research and rescue operations.
Group Captain Vikas Wahi of the Hakimpet station said, “Hakimpet provides basic helicopter operations training, which takes six months. There are two batches every year, one starting in January and the other in July. Cadets get commissioned to the Indian Air Force and become flying officers. Those who are interested come back to the station for advance training, primarily in the conduction of search and rescue operations.” Speaking about the technology introduced to aid cadets in their training, a senior officer says, “A flight-monitoring system was needed. The Air Force asked the HAL (manufacturing unit) to include it, and now all helicopters come with self-monitoring devices.”
Trainee pilots receive basic training at the Air Force Station in Dundigal, for a period of six months, before they are moved to the Hakimpet station for training in operational flying. The syllabus has been prepared in such a way as to avoid accidents caused by technical defects and human errors.
