There was a plan to arrest the decline of pilots but the force could not keep up with it. “Between 2016 to 2021, against the planned initial intake of 222 trainees annually, the initial annual intake ranged between 158 and 204 trainees. Also, the annual intake after wastage ranged between 124 to 167.” As a result, “the shortage of pilots rose from 486 to 596 which was expected to be filled up between January 2021 and January 2030.”But, what adds to the problem is the training being done on old aircraft in all three streams of the pilot training, which the CAG, in its Report on Training of Pilots in Indian Air Force, presented in Parliament in winter session.The Performance Audit was conducted during the period January 2022 to May 2022 and covered the three stages of training; Stage I (Basic), Stage II (Intermediate) and Stage III (Applied) imparted by the Flying Training Establishments (FTEs) and the training of Navigators at the Navigation Training School (NTS) during the period 2016 to 2021.
Source link
