India setting up world's third naval pilots training facility

N C Bipindra

Goa, Nov 9 (PTI) To help its fighter pilots hone their
skills ahead of more aircraft carriers joining the fleet, the
Navy is setting up a shore-based training facility (S.B.T.F.)
here for MiG-29K and Naval L.C.A. aircraft.

This will be the third such mock flight deck facility
in the world, with only the U.S. and Russia having the other
two.

The work on the S.B.T.F. has already started at the Naval
air base I.N.S. Hansa, which houses the Navy's fighter
squadrons and training squadrons flying the existing fleet of
Sea Harriers, Navy sources told PTI here.

The work on setting up the S.B.T.F. with the ski-jump
facing the sea-front in I.N.S. Hansa has been handed over to
Goa Shipyard Limited, a Defence public sector undertaking,
through the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency
(A.D.A.).

G.S.L. sources said the S.B.T.F. is likely to be
completed next year, much ahead of schedule in 2010.

Coinciding with the S.B.T.F. getting ready for use by
naval fighter pilots for training, India would get the
delivery of the first four MiG-29Ks early next year, after a
delay of nearly six months from the original deadline of
September this year.

The rest 12 of the 16 MiG-29Ks, for which India signed
a deal with Russia in January 2004, would come by later next
year.

Of the 16 aircraft, four would be twin-seater trainer
aircraft and the rest single-seaters. India has plans of
ordering 29 more MiG-29Ks as a follow-on purchase.

I.N.S. Hansa is already getting the hangers and
maintenance station for the MiG-29Ks ready and hopes to put
the S.B.T.F. to good use so as to train its fighter pilots in
Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (S.T.O.B.A.R.) landings.

"The pilots would be practicing short take off over the
S.B.T.F. that will resemble the ski-jump on board the flight
deck of an aircraft carrier and arrested landings using a tail
hook fitted to the aircraft, first on the shore before they
try it out on board an aircraft carrier," Navy officials in
I.N.S. Hansa said.

Arrested landing is essentially a difficult task as
pilots experience immense force that could throw occupants out
of the aircraft if they are not properly secured with seat
belts.

In fact, during arrested landings, the aircraft is
usually flown at take-off speeds ranging from 150 kmph to 200
kmph, but its velocity is arrested to a zero kmph within
seconds of the tail hook locking onto the arresting cables on
board the flight deck of the aircraft.

All of these drills would be practiced on the S.B.T.F. at
I.N.S. Hansa by fighter pilots.

In fact, these preparations for training the pilots is at
an advanced stages, as India expects to receive I.N.S.
Vikramaditya (erstwhile Admiral Gorshkov of the Russian Navy)
from Sevmash Shipyard in Russia sometime around 2012. PTI NCB
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