2014 will see a lot of addition to the Indian air fleet. Additionally, there are a lot of investors who are showing keen interest in this sector. Thus, the need for trained manpower, says Rajiv Kumar Misra
With India’s civil aviation sector expanding rapidly, several international firms are investing in setting up maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in India. MRO facility is any kind of major repairs on aircrafts are undertaken. In a scenario where large deals such as TATA—Air Asia, TATA-SIA, Jet-Etihad are happening, and where Airport Authority of India has planned to invest Rs 1,500 crore in the development of 200 low-cost, small and no-frills airports to boost air connectivity in tier-II and tier-III cities in next few years, it becomes imperative to boost MRO facilities for smoother operations.
In recent developments, the aviation Ministry suggested to seek service tax exemption from Finance Ministry to develop the MRO services as a lucrative industry in India. Tatas are also planning to set up an MRO Unit and the group is said to be in talks with Airport Authority to secure land for maintenance unit. Air India Engineering Services, which on the ground gets about Rs 100 crore from third party work, aims to increase this by four times by 2016-17.
Aircraft Maintenance Engineers
Aviation industry is subject to high safety standards, both from security and operations perspective. While MROs undertake major maintenance, there are several routine activities carried out during operational hours to ensure zero error perfection level. Pre flight inspection during transit at each station is one such activity conducted by Aircraft Maintenance Engineers who issue a Certificate Release to Service (CRS). Aircraft can’t fly without CRS or fitness certificate issued by AME. Thus, AME or security inspections is one of the specialised jobs in the MRO sector. Different airlines have different guidelines and policies for safety inspections but all align with those of the aviation safety authority in India – Director General of Civil Aviation, DGCA.
Aircraft Maintenance Engineers are the key people to monitor safety adherence both during daily operations and at the MRO facilities. Owing to the high safety standards and civil aviation regulations, the education and license training programmes to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer is governed by DGCA, and not by AICTE. To get a license to work as an AME on an aircraft, one has to undergo six semesters training and has to pass all the examinations conducted by the training institute and DGCA. The candidate can appear in the DGCA examination only when he or she has undergone a course at an institute approved by DGCA which closely monitors the curriculum. The eligibility of such courses is minimum Class XII or intermediate pass with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
AME Course
The AME course is of five semester duration of six months each for theory papers. AME (basic) course focuses on following areas of specialisation —
Mechanical Stream
It consists of aeroplane and power plants that comprises light aeroplane (lA), heavy aeroplane (HA), piston engine (PE) and jet engine. Another field under this consists of helicopter and power plants that comprises rotary wing aircraft (RA), PE and JE.
Avionics Stream
It comprises electrical system (ES), instrument system(IS) and radio navigation(RN). The sixth semester focuses on the on-job training. This is usually provided on aircrafts like Bonanza A-35, pressurised aircraft Hawker HS-125, learjet-24, Helicopter SA-318C and Eurocopter EC-120B. As per DGCA regulations, the institutes offering these specialised courses should have these aircrafts within their campus.
AME Course Design
The training programme is designed under the guidelines of DGCA to provide comprehensive knowledge of aircraft, its systems, components and good maintenance practices to enable the students to become skilled and competent aircraft maintenance professionals. The course design includes —
Knowledge of Aircraft Rule (India), Aircraft manuals, Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), Airworthiness Advisory circulars.
Theoretical technical knowledge of aircraft design, its construction, maintenance and operation of aircraft and engine systems, materials used for construction of aircraft, engine and components.
Knowledge of engineering practices and skill to use various equipments related to aircraft operations. Usage of various general and special tools required for aircraft maintenance.
Knowledge of good maintenance practices, human factor and human performances which are required to make a good assessment of the problems and its solution while releasing the aircraft in safe and sound condition i.e. airworthiness condition.
Job Opportunities
When it comes to aviation, people in general think of pilots or air-hostesses. But, for every operational aircrafts, the industry needs 2 to 4 pilots, 6 to 10 cabin crews, 25 to 30 aircraft maintenance engineers and 50 to 60 ground staff. Since lot of new airlines are starting their operations, the need of trained manpower is on the rise.
Students need to focus on DGCA papers passing which industry induction is relatively easy. Industry training opportunities are always available and are mentioned on the respective websites of all the major aircraft carrier and MRO companies.
The demand for the type rated service engineers will be high in the industry. The starting package as a trainee is usually between Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakhs which scales to Rs 12 Rs 15 lakh per annum once type rated license are procured.
WHERE TO STUDY
JRN Institute of Aviation Technology, Delhi
Bharat Institute of Aeronautics, Patna
Indian Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, Kolkata
Academy of Aviation Engineering, Bangalore
Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy, Hyderabad.
The writer is former DGM of Air India and Principal of JRN Institute of Aviation Technology, New Delhi.