Guest Authors
PP Singh
Accountable Manager
As the Accountable Manager and Vice President for Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Capt PP Singh is the Key Management Person in this world-famous airline brand\'s resolution and revival process. He has been an aviation professional since 1984, possessing extensive training and checking experience accrued with major Indian and foreign international carriers as an instructor and examiner on large commercial jets. Over the past three decades, Capt Singh has held crucial appointments in the senior management teams of Jet Airways and Nepal Airlines in various regulatory and leadership roles. After graduating from the University of Delhi, he started his aviation career with the Indian Air Force and moved to civil aviation in 1994. He is currently responsible for the operations, training, safety, and engineering functions of Jet Airways.
Arun Kumar Singh
Founding CEO and Accountable Manager
Arun Kumar Singh is the Founding CEO and Accountable manager of the regional airline IndiaOne Air. Under his leadership, the airline became the first and only airline in the history of Indian civil aviation to obtain AOC (Air Operator Certificate) with a single engine aircraft. He is also a part of the “Airline Advisory Group” (group of airline CEOs, constituted by Honorable Civil Aviation Minister to advice MoCA about Civil Aviation Policy Reforms in India).
D Anand Bhaskar
Managing Director, CEO
Anand is the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Air Works Group since 2019, having joined the Company as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2010. As a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of experience in planning and establishing Greenfield Projects, Project Funding, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Six Sigma projects. Anand architected Air Works’ strong global expansion post 2010, helping it become India’s first and only multinational MRO with presence in France, the United Kingdom, Middle East and the USA, with multiple engineering & maintenance facilities and an comprehensive service portfolio including several new ones such as Interiors & Finishing, Avionics, Asset Management, and Training. Before Air Works Group, Anand has worked for Genpact, Canon India, Pepsi and GE.
Nivedita Bhasin
International Director at the Ninety-Nines, Inc.®, Ex Airline Captain
Nivedita started very young and became the youngest woman pilot in the world to command a passenger jet aircraft at the age of 26. Throughout her career, with Indian Airlines and Air India, she got the opportunity to fly the best aircraft to every corner of the world. She was also privileged to be on the world’s first All women\'s Crew flight. From Fokker Friendship F27 as a co-pilot she transitioned to a captain on Boeing B737, Training Captain on Airbus A300 and A330, and Type Rated Instructor on Boeing 787 Dreamliner. She joined as a trainee pilot in 1984 and superannuated as the Executive Director of Flight Safety & Chief of Flight Safety, Air India in 2021.
Avinash Chikte
Airline Captain, Ex Fighter Pilot
Avinash is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and is now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of three novels and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com
Reeva Chugh Arora
Aviation Lawyer
Reeva Chugh Arora is the Founding Partner of AviLeague Partners and has more than 6 years of professional experience. Her practice areas include alternate dispute resolution and litigation (specifically in relation to international commercial disputes), filing of insolvency and bankruptcy claims, aircraft leasing and finance, repossessions, regulatory compliance and other cross-border transactional work. She has represented international and domestic parties in various arbitration proceedings. She also has assisted lessors in repossessing aircraft and with their claims before the insolvency resolution professional. As part of her work, she has interacted with regulatory bodies and institutions. She is a LL.M.-International Business Law graduate from Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.
Dr Sanjay Bhargava MD
Consultant Aerospace Medicine Specialist
Sanjay Bhargava is a consultant Aerospace medicine specialist is a renowned Class 1 medical examiner empanelled with DGCA. He is an alumnus of Armed Forces Medical College Pune. After completing his post-graduate in Aerospace medicine from the Institute of Aerospace medicine Bangalore, he worked as a specialist in Aerospace medicine in various appointments in Indian Air Force. He is a DGCA Class 1 examiner with extensive experience at AFCME, Delhi, AFS Tambaram, and as President MEC (EAST), Jorhat. He has been responsible for finalizing various policies at DGCA. He was the lead doctor for starting civil medical centres for class 1 medicals for DGCA.
Anshul Sharma
Pilot Examiner
Capt Anshul Sharma is an Ex-Indian Naval pilot with experience of flying different type of aircraft across the world. A well experienced Flying Instructor involved in training a large number of trainee pilots of Indian Navy and Indian Air Force on varied types of aircraft. He has been a DGCA approved Designated Examiner (DE) on DO 228 since 2014. Capt Anshul has had the distinction of commanding two frontline Naval Squadron in India and Mauritius. For promoting safe flying practices in Mauritius and contributing significantly to the aviation fraternity, he was honoured with the Fellowship of the Aeronautical society of Mauritius. Capt Anshul is presently employed with the Flight Inspection Unit of the Airports Authority of India.
Anoop Kachroo
Pilot Examiner
Capt. Anoop Kachroo senior pilot with Airports Authority of India as well as a DGCA TRE and ITRE. He is actively involved in the testing and design of GAGAN LPV approaches in India.
Ghani Khan
Airline Captain
Air India captain Ghani khan is an adventure and fitness enthusiast at heart. When he is not commanding his Dreamliner, Ghani explores his passion as adventure seeker, traveler, photographer and triathlete. He has clocked north of 10,000 hours in his 18-year career as an Air India Pilot. He has also endured four triathlons and travelled to all seven continents with two of his pictures featured by National Geographic. Ghani is presently based out of Gurugram where he resides with his wife Subuhi and two children Zayaan and Izna.
Rajat Ahuja
Captain Airbus A380, Aviation English Examiner
Rajat hails from Jammu & Kashmir, India and is presently living in the United Arab Emirates. A certified commercial pilot with more than 9000 hours and 13+ years of continuous global flight experience on Airbus A380 & A320 aircrafts, Rajat is also a crew resource management Facilitator and Aviation English Examiner. Rajat founded VR Global in partnership with Aviation Academy Belgrade - Facilitating aspiring Pilots, Engineers and Air Traffic Controllers to successfully complete their training in Serbia. Rajat holds degrees in BSc Computer Sciences and MBA Human Resource Management.
Anil Goyal
Airline Captain, Ex Fighter Pilot
Anil comes with rich experience in military and civil aviation. In a career spanning 27 years and counting, Anil has flown ????more than 30 different types and is an accomplished experimental test pilot. He was the project test pilot on a fighter aircraft upgrade and two indigenous prototype development projects, SARAS and Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT). His expertise lies in aircraft performance, stability, and control, flying/handling qualities, avionics, certification, and airworthiness. He also has significant experience in Radars, Electro-Optical Sensors, Communication systems, Displays, HOTAS and Controls, Human-machine interfaces, Navigation system, Datalink system, and Electronic warfare. Anil is also a Qualified Flying Instructor with wide experience in training ab-initio experienced operational pilots. Anil retired from IAF in 2016 after 23 years of service. He is presently working with SpiceJet Airline as a Line Captain.
Aishwarya Agicha
Clinical Psychologist
Aishwarya Agicha is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. A Ph.D. Scholar and an attendee of the International Summer School on Aviation Psychology, she has over four years of work experience in providing expert psychological services to a wide variety of clientele in both IP and OP settings. Her main research area surrounds the field of cognitive, clinical, and aviation psychology. She has expertise in the area of Psycho-Diagnostics, Neuro-Psychological Assessment, and Profiling IQ Assessment with Personality, Behavioral, and Emotional Assessments. Over the positions she has held, she has demonstrated her effectiveness in need-based therapeutic services, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Family and Marital Therapy, Play Therapy, and other tailored evidence-based psychotherapy techniques, including Mindfulness, Acceptance and Compassion based approaches such as DBT. She is passionate about working with Aviation crews and looks up to enhancing Mental Training programs for Pilots.
Mayuri Deshmukh
Helicopter Pilot, Operations Manager
I\'m Capt. Mayuri Deshmukh from Pune. My father was a helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force. I\'ve watched him fly out of the most exotic locations that have planted the dream in me to fly this machine. My sister is an Airbus Captain with one of the leading commercial airlines. We are both fortunate to have found our source of inspiration at home in my father, who has been a constant and a brilliant guiding force to us, and in our mother, who has been our greatest support system. The Ministry of Civil Aviation recently honored me for being India\'s first female offshore captain. I couldn’t be more satisfied that I chose to pursue my dream, which appeared impossible at first, but the will to persist and be patient has taken me to a new path. Flying offshore can be a very rewarding experience that improves your skills and overall cockpit management. It is difficult due to physiological barriers but the rewards at the end of the day are well worth it. Being the only woman pilot flying in this sector currently, I wish that more women come forward to join an unconventional industry with its own challenges.
Amit Singh FRAeS
Airline Captain
Amit is an aviation Safety & Training expert with over 35 years of airline experience. Amit is the founder of an NGO, Safety Matters Foundation which is dedicated towards establishing a generative safety culture in aviation. Amit has been associated with IndiGo and AirAsia India where he headed Training and Operations/Safety respectively.?Amit is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, UK which is the highest grade awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions in the profession of aeronautics. Amit writes the human factors blog mindFly and has published papers on the subject which have been used as a part of airline pilot training curriculum.
Peeush Kumar
Experimental Test Pilot, TRE
Capt. Peeush Kumar is a certified experimental test pilot for rotary wing aircrafts and a Type Rating Examiner with experience on more than 20+ helicopters and aeroplanes. He currently operates H145 (M/s Airbus) helicopter for a non-scheduled category operator. His solo initiative @ IndianRotors.in has active support of Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI). Through continuous engagements with AAI, DGCA and MoCA for reforms in Indian Helicopter Operations, he has been highly active in implementation efforts for PBN (Performance Based Navigation) based helicopter operations.
Kulbir Singh Chaudhary
Chief Ground Instructor
Kulbir Singh Chaudhary hails from the remote village Sabuana on the Indo-Pak border in Punjab. He did his basic schooling from Fazilka, Graduation from Hyderabad, and master\'s from Chidambaram. He served Indian Air Force from 1984 to 2007 in Meteorology Branch on different assignments, including Kargil and Siachen Glacier. Kulbir served as Senior ground Instructor in Ahmedabad Aviation and Aeronautics from 2007 to 2008. He, later on, became the founding member of the National Flying Training Institute, Joined NFTI. He is currently Chief Ground Instructor at NFTI and has trained more than 600 commercial pilots.
Vijay Devdas MRAeS
Airline Captain
Vijay Macmilton Devadas is a line training captain and an Airbus procedural trainer with an airline in India. He also works with the CRM team as a pilot and cabin crew facilitator. He has formerly worked with various airlines, including Indian Airlines, Air India, and Emirates flying A320, A380, and B787. In his educational background, he has a bachelor\'s in Mechanical engineering and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, and currently a student with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in the Master of Science – Human Factors. His motivation is to understand \"why we think the way we think\" and apply them to the commercial aviation environment of human psychology and bring awareness to the industry and public.
Vikas Nautiyal MRAeS
Deputy Chief Pilot
Capt. Vikas Nautiyal grew up in Dehradun and was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in 1991 in the fighter stream. He flew MiG-21 and MiG-29 before graduating as a Cat ‘A’ Qualified Flying Instructor and Directing Staff / Flight Commander at the prestigious Flying Instructors’ School. He is a National Defense Academy graduate with a Master\'s Degree in Aviation Management. He served as Chief Operations Officer at a frontline forward base and at Flight Safety and Inspection Directorate. On graduating in civil aviation, he is qualified on the Boeing-737, empanelled as a Subject Matter Expert with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, an IOSA certified Quality Auditor, and currently serving as a management pilot, appointed as Dy Chief Pilot in his airline.
Siddharth Ganesh
Flight Instructor
Siddharth is an aviator at heart, and most things during his day revolve around aviation, be ti flying, writing, or just being an avgeek. Siddharth holds a European pilot\'s license, and he is currently Flight Instructing on a mixed fleet of aircraft, right from the Cessna 150/172, Piper, Diamond 40, and most importantly the Pipistrel Velis Electro, all on the same day. During the evenings, he brings out his paper and pen, that\'s when journalism starts. He writes for a couple of leading Aviation publications across the globe in English and other languages - mostly focused on airlines and airports in detail, including interviews with the CEOs. He is also certified by IATA as an Aviation Management Person. Siddharth is based in Germany.
Salil Arora
Aviation Lawyer
Salil Arora is the Founding Partner of AviLeague Partners and has more than 10 years of experience in asset finance and general financing. His practice areas primarily include aircraft leasing, sale, purchase and finance, regulatory compliance, repossessions, indirect tax and white-collar crimes. He has worked extensively on cross-border transactions including but not limited to aircraft deliveries to leading global airlines, aircraft novations, sale and purchase transactions, restructurings and repossessions. He has worked closely with major Indian operators, DGCA, Airport Authorities, GST and other government departments. He has done his B.A. LL.B (H) from Indraprastha University, New Delhi (India) and has also done a diploma in Corporate Law from Indian Law Institute, New Delhi (India).
MK Singh
Helicopter Pilot
Captain Manoj Kumar Singh is a decorated Indian Navy veteran helicopter pilot qualified on Allouettes (Chetak), Dauphin, MD 902 and Bell 412 helicopters. Having singular distinction of successfully carrying out dead stick landing of Chetak with Engine seized due Engine explosion and fire at night away from the airfield, Flight Safety is close to his heart. He is dedicated to development of Aviation in the shadow zone of Aviation, the eastern India, namely Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.
Ajay Kumar
Aviation Lawyer
Ajay Kumar is the Managing Partner of the Law Firm, KLA Legal. He advises on leasing, financing and structuring of various cross border aviation matters. His clients include major manufacturers, lessors and leading banks across the globe. Over the years, he has worked closely with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to bring about amendments to the Aircraft Rules in line with India’s commitments under the Cape Town Convention. He is also majorly involved with the ambitious GIFT City project of the Government of India. Ajay is also the Conference Quality Officer of the Aviation Law Committee at the International Bar Association and a member of the Legal Advisory Panel of the Aviation Working Group.”
Rintu Chitrakar
DGR Training Manager
Rintu is presently working as Dangerous Goods Training Manager with IndiGo Airlines. He has 18 years of Air cargo industry experience dedicated entirely in handling dangerous goods. In the past he has worked with several International Airlines in the Dangerous Goods department before becoming a full-time instructor.
Tanya Singh
Aircraft Sales Manager
Tanya is a graduate of Warwick Business School, UK. Post which, she worked for a PR firm handling various big hospitality brands including one of the major players in the Indian aviation. Growing up, she was fortunate enough to travel the world and grasp different cultures & traditions. She considers herself a history and political buff who loves all things socio-politics. Currently Tanya works in the glamorous field of General Aviation, handling commercials & marketing along with PR at Arrow Aircraft Sales & Charters.
Raju Kethavath
Airworthiness Inspector DGCA
Raju Kethavath is a graduate in B. Tech Aeronautical Engineering degree holder from the Institute of Aeronautical Engineering College, Hyderabad. He has intensive Civil Aviation experience by working at DGCA (Indian Civil Aviation Regulator) primarily dealing with certifications related Airworthiness of aircraft, approval of various organizations in Aviation and other regulatory functions of DGCA. Raju is a certified Aviation Auditor and holds IOSA Airline Auditor Authorizations at three different Airlines (Air India, Jet Airways, and Jazeera Airways at Kuwait) with vast experience in compliance monitoring management and Auditing different IOSA core sections of Airline viz, Engineering & Maintenance (MNT), Ground Operations (GRH), Cargo operations (CGO), Cabin Operations (CAB), Flight Dispatch functions(DSP), Management system (ORG) comprising SMS and allied functions.
Justin Jude Francis
Terminal Air Traffic Controller
Justin has more than 10 years of ATC experience and hold current Aerodrome and Oceanic control ratings at Mumbai. In addition to regular ATC procedures, he is also trained in CPDLC and HIRO operations at CSMIA, Mumbai. Justin is graduate with Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering. When off duty, he enjoys backpacking and exploring unconventional destinations. He also likes reading fiction and classic rock music.
K G Suresh Kumar
Head ARFF
K G Suresh Kumar is the Fire Chief at Kannur International Airport, Kerala since 2021. An Aviation Firefighting and Rescue professional with over 30 years of rich experience in military and civil airports, he has trained at premier training centers like the International Fire Training Centre United Kingdom and Fire Training Centre India. Having worked in Afghanistan in the NATO base of Kandahar and Mazar-E-Sherif, he brings international best practices in aviation firefighting. He is also an ICAO-certified Trainer and Auditor for Health and Safety. Suresh started his career in the Indian Air Force, serving the country for 20 years, followed by stints in Bangalore International Airport and Afghanistan for G3 systems, UK. At present, he is leading the ARFF team at Kannur International Airport.
Balpreet Singh Bhatia
Senior First Officer
Balpreet is presently working as a Senior First Officer B737 with SpiceJet. Balpreet started his career as a banker with American Express Bank before joining Jet Airways as a Trainee First Officer. He holds a Bachelor\'s of Science degree and am currently pursuing a Masters. New Father to a 4-month-old boy, Balpreet enjoys Swimming, Golf and family time.
Leon J. Prusak
Air Traffic Management Expert
Leon J. Prusak is a domain expert with more than 40 years of experience in the fields of air traffic control and air traffic management. He currently works at CGH Technologies, Inc. Previously he worked for 5 years at PASSUR Aerospace and 34 years with the FAA. His expertise was gained in the FAA managing in the busiest airspace environment in the world. He was responsible for airports that served 10,000 flights per day and 120 million passengers annually. He specializes in Air Traffic Management, airport demand and capacity modeling and management, use of predictive analytics to manage air traffic, decision support automation and integration, software solution design. Mr. Prusak served from 2017 to 2020 as Chairman on the National Airspace System Operations subcommittee of the FAA Research, Engineering, and Development Advisory Committee. He created the widely used PERTI process for air traffic management (Plan, Execute Review, Train, Improve).
Rohan Bhadgaonkar
Head of Airline Partnerships
Rohan comes across as an aviation specialist with more than 19 years of rich aviation experience across various domestic and international carriers. He started his career with Air Sahara and then moved to Virgin Atlantic international sales before his next challenge with Jet Airways Alliances and Revenue Management. His last airline tenure was with Qatar Airways, which lasted for 1 years. He worked in multiple profiles as a Business Process Analyst, Country h e a d in Nepal, Head of Specialty Sales in Global Sales, and then Alliance & Partnerships. Rohan is now the head of Airline Partnerships and Strategic Alliances with SpiceJet Ltd.
Commander Ashley Derrick (Retd)
Ex-Navy Flying Instructor
An ex-Navy Flying Instructor with about two and a half decades of experience in flying and aviation operations at sea. He is a seasoned Accident Investigator with over 35 accident analyses under his belt. He specializes in Safety Risk Studies and Intervention Design for accident prevention, with a focus on Organizational Culture. An Auditor of 12 airports, covering over 10000 personnel of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. As an experienced public speaker, he has made 300+ appearances at official and social functions, captivating audiences ranging from 20 to 3,000, including TEDx IIM Trichy. He regularly undertakes research and writes on Safety, Culture, and Leadership.
Akshay Renavikar
Director Flight Operations
Captain Akshay Renavikar comes with a wide range of aviation experience, from commercial wide-body planes to flying MiG combat fighters for the Indian Air Force. He is currently a demo, ferry, and EASA A320/330/350 Examiner/Instructor pilot. Additionally, he collaborates with ATOs from all around the world on CBTA and simulator training. Capt. Akshay has eight ATPLs from his work with international airlines after training and flying with several of them. He has worked in various executive positions and has an MBA and a Bachelor of Science.
Samit Garg
Managing Director
Samit is the Managing Director & Co-Founder of E- Factor Experiences Limited, an experiential firm - that enjoys a near-mythological status for crafting enviable and transformative events & experiences in the industry. Known as a pathological disrupter at heart, Samit wears many hats and is aggressively working on redefining the antiquated tourism & cultural sector by introducing superlative and sustainable heritage tourism experiences for the global audience. Through Skywaltz Balloon Safari, he is also credited for having brought commercial Hot Air Ballooning to India, which until 2008 seemed like an impossible feat to achieve. Skywaltz is today the largest ballooning brand in this part of the world. Today, more than 7000 travellers and enthusiasts hop into a hot air balloon every year in India.
Utkarsh Thakkar
Service Analyst
Utkarsh is a seasoned aviation enthusiast and a passionate traveler who has dedicated his life to exploring the world through the skies. With extensive knowledge of airlines, aircraft, and flight experiences, Utkarsh has become a trusted authority in aviation reviews. Utkarsh is gifted with a discerning eye for detail, and he meticulously evaluates every aspect of a flight, from check-in to in-flight service, comfort, and overall experience. Utkarsh is based in Mumbai.
Neelu Khatri
Co-Founder, Senior Vice President and Head of Operations
Neelu Khatri is the Co-Founder, Senior Vice President and Head of Operations at Akasa Air. She comes with over 25 years of professional expertise and has spent most of her career in the Defense and Aerospace industry. She is an ex-Indian Air Force Wing Commander from the first batch of women officers back in 1993. Besides, she has also handled P&L for various global organisations, including Honeywell in India and served over five years working as a Director in the Civil Aviation and Aerospace department for KPMG. Moreover, she has authored numerous thought leadership documents on the regulations of the sector. At Akasa Air, she is responsible for Operations Planning and Control, Airports, Maintenance and Engineering and Flight Operations.
Rohit Ramachandran FRAeS
Chief Executive Officer, Jazeera Airways
Rohit Ramachandran, is the first and only Indian Chief Executive Officer to lead a Middle Eastern airline. He is credited with turning Jazeera Airways around, and putting it on the path to profitable growth. During his six-year tenure, he led an ambitious program of restructuring the company, dramatically reducing the cost structure, network expansion and fleet renewal. Under his leadership, the airline also posted consistently rising profits grew its market cap by a multiple of 7 and its fleet from 7 to 23 aircraft. Rohit has over 20 years of aviation experience and an MBA in International Marketing and Aviation Law. In 2020, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Sabu S MRAeS
TRI A320
S Sabu is an airline pilot with instructional experience in light trainers and the Airbus 320. He is a Life Member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, the International Aerobatic Club, the Vintage Aircraft Association and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Flight Safety Foundation. He is Subject Matter Expert at the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of India and an Associate Member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.