Air Force Station Hakimpet on the city outskirts is not only the school for the budding fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force but also provides training for the helicopter pilots and the non-technical training for air warriors working in the administrative wings.
Over the last few decades ever since the premier aviation training school developed from a jet training wing in 1958 to flight training wing a decade later and into the present establishment in 1983, it oversaw cadets being groomed into fighter pilots tasked with protecting the nation’s skies. If it was the Spitfires, Tempest trainers, Iskras, later they were and Kirans including Kiran MK II aircrafts on which the pilots trained.
Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Hakimpet Air Commodore RK Obheroi told visiting presspersons on Thursday — on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the IAF — that the institute being one of the oldest and the best, trains cadets and officers into the fighter flying for the Indian Navy plus the Coast Guard in the art of rotary winged flying.
The station houses the Technical Type Training (TETTRA) School, equipped with working models, X-ray models of various systems; computer based simulators and cut out full-scale models of aircraft, to train cadets into prospective Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force pilots prior to commencing their flying training.
The Non Technical Training Institute (NTTI) provides training for over 200 airmen trainees in Administrative Assistant trade. Shift of the Helicopter Training School (HTS) in 197 here was a major milestone and it has been the alma mater for many helicopter pilots in IAF and the Indian Army.
For the first six months, trainee pilots are taught operational flying initially on BELL 47G3 helicopter and subsequently on Chetaks. These pilots have been called for many a time to provide aid to civil authorities in times of distress and natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes to provide relief to the affected people, he explained.
The media visit was to create awareness about AFS in imparting training in various streams of the Air Force and also to encourage bright youngsters to join the elite forces.
