Club banks on states help to fly out of trouble

CHENNAI: It may have been the body that gave many high flyers, from the Maharaja of Vizianagaram to IAF’s best pilots, their wings, but today, the Madras Flying Club (MFC) finds itself on shaky ground. While struggling to even log in flight hours for their 78 students, the 81-year-old club has been managing to exist, but only just.It may be recalled that they had been flight training their pilots at the Vellore airfield, but even that was stopped last year. The latest nail in their coffin was apparently delivered during a meeting held on April 4 with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), to discuss their future. “We were shocked when they told us plainly that the subsidised operation rates applied only to the Madras Airport. So, if we wished to make use of the Vellore airfield, we would have to pay them commercial rates, just like any other airline,” said K Sebastian Joseph, honorary secretary of MFC, adding, “How do they expect us to pay so much? We are only a flying school.”AAI officials, however, maintain that the decision was a matter of protocol that the “unauthorised occupation” at Vellore was cleared.Add to this, a strong statement made by Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan that MFC might have to “move out of Chennai” because of the spike in air traffic, and this does not bode well for the club.