Uttar Pradesh to have a drone excellence centre

Omnipresent Robot Technologies has inked a pact with Gautam Buddha University and the Skill Council of India to set up a drone excellence centre in Uttar Pradesh.

The centre will have segments for drone pilot and operations training, drone data processing and analysis and app development, drone design and manufacturing, and drone testing and repair, according to a release issued on Monday, May 16.

Recently, Omnipresent was selected as a beneficiary under the government's PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme for drones and drone components.

Uttar Pradesh to have a drone excellence centre

"We intend to hire the first 100 students coming out of the programme for our own internal needs. Our target is to produce over 100s of trained drone pilots along with 100s of indigenously manufactured drones every month," Omnipresent CTO Jyoti Vashishta Sinha said.

Gautam Buddha University is located in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Skill councils have been set up by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

“We aim to make India a global drone hub by 2030,” the resolution of Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia echoed in the ears of all Indians as he unveiled the new Drone Rules 2021.

As the global drone industry takes wing, India’s drone delivery industry is not far behind.

Since then, India’s drone industry stakeholders have witnessed a reversal of fortune. Drone deliveries have penetrated multiple industries, from healthcare to agriculture to e-commerce, leapfrogging infrastructural gaps in the supply chain and last-mile deliveries.

As the global drone industry takes wing, India’s drone delivery industry is not far behind. Currently accounting for a minuscule share in the global drone industry (4.25%), India’s drone market is estimated to reach 30,000 crores in the next three years.

Underpinned by government impetus and unchained from rigid rules and stringent laws, the drone delivery industry in India is set to lead the next era of aviation.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will commission a new terminal building at the Jabalpur airport in Madhya Pradesh by March 2023, according to an official statement on Saturday, May 14.

The new terminal building will be equipped with world-class passenger facilities and have the capacity to handle 500 passengers during peak hours, the AAI’s statement said. 

Spread over an area of 1,15,315 square feet, the terminal building will have three aerobridges, an advanced baggage screening system, a modern food court in the landscape area and well-planned parking for over 300 cars and buses. 

https://twitter.com/AAI_Official/status/1525408757890441216

“The proposed terminal building will welcome the passengers with glimpses of vibrant Gond paintings, local handicrafts, murals and popular tourist destinations of Madhya Pradesh,” it stated.

The proposed terminal building will have glimpses of vibrant tribal Gond paintings, local handicrafts, murals, and popular tourist destinations of Madhya Pradesh. It said the Madhya Pradesh government had handed over 483 acres of land to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the airport in 2015, which has taken the total land under the airport to 774 acres.

According to the statement, not just the terminal building, but the entire airport is also getting upgraded.

The runway is being extended to make it suitable to handle A320-type aircraft, a new 38-metre-high air traffic control tower is being built, and a new fire station and ancillary buildings are being built under this project at the Jabalpur airport, it said.

AAI to commission a new terminal building at the Jabalpur airport by March 2023

The entire project will cost INR 412 crore. “The tentative date for completion of the project is December 2022 and the new terminal building is likely to be commissioned by March 2023,” the statement said.

The Centre-run AAI owns and runs more than 100 airports across the country. Jabalpur Airport (colloquially referred to as Dumna Airport) is an airport 25 km east of the city of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

It is the third busiest airport in Madhya Pradesh after Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar International Airport in Indore and Raja Bhoj International Airport in Bhopal in terms of both passenger and aircraft movement.

The Airports Authority of India is upgrading the airport to provide better services to the air travellers of the region. The upgrades are expected to be completed by December 2022.

Safran Landing Systems, the world leader in aircraft landing and braking systems, Safran Engineering Services, a provider of high technology engineering services and ATR - the world’s leading regional aircraft manufacturer, have collaborated to develop, what is dubbed as "Smart Lander" - the first of its kind in the aviation industry.

Safran

Smart Lander, an innovative landing gear diagnostics service developed by the aerospace behemoths, is apparently based on machine learning technology, touted to optimise the manufacturer's response times in the event of hard landings, and enable aircraft to be quickly returned to service.

What causes a hard landing?

Boeing defines a “hard landing” to be any landing that may have resulted in an exceeding limit load on the airframe or landing gear, with a sink rate of 10 feet per second with zero rolls at touchdown. It can be caused by weather conditions, mechanical problems, overweight aircraft, pilot decisions and/or pilot errors.

The aftermath of a hard landing can be hard on the passengers and cargo and the aircraft itself. Bumpy landings or bouncing on the tarmac with high forces can potentially impart huge structural stress on landing gear components.

Although pilot error can cause “hard landings", they are executed on purpose because of wet weather conditions, wind gusts, or short or busy runways-pilots often prefer to term such landings-"firm".

Following a hard landing, an aircraft is subjected to a close visual inspection of various structural components to determine if further inspections are warranted. Based on initial inspection, further examinations may be performed- should a leakage of hydraulic fluid from the shock strut is found which may call for a removal of parts of the landing gear. 

Representative | Source

How will Smart Lander streamline the process?

Based on hundreds of thousands of hard landing simulations, Smart Lander will issue recommendations to operators on the maintenance actions to be taken according to the hardness of the landing and to the load level sustained by the landing gear. Based on these, the aircraft can therefore be permitted to continue their commercial operations or alternatively, be sent to a maintenance base. A process which would take over a week previously can now be done in less than an hour.

Our former process could take up to 10 to 20 working days. It required analyses from both the ATR Design Office and Safran Landing Systems to decide whether the aircraft was fit to return to service. With Smart Lander, we will be able to massively reduce ATR response times, therefore boosting aircraft availability, reducing costs for customers and enhancing customer satisfaction, while maintaining the same level of analysis quality.David Brigante, ATR Customer Support and Services Senior Vice-President, stated

David Brigante | Aviation Maintenance Magazine

Significantly slashing the response times required for returning the aircraft to service after a hard landing, Smart Lander will also undeniable advantages to both ATR and its customers in terms of man-hours, aircraft availability and customer satisfaction.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: Cargospotter

After three previous unsuccessful attempts at disinvesting its stake in Pawan Hans, the central government has been forced to put the divestment of the helicopter services provider on hold after concerns were raised over one of the majority stakeholders of Star9 Mobility.

“We are examining it legally. We haven’t issued a Letter of Award to the successful bidder,” Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) — the nodal agency of the government’s disinvestment process, said.

According to Dipam’s guidelines, an entity will be disqualified if the company or its directors are facing any conviction by a court of law or indictment or adverse order by a regulatory authority which casts a doubt on its ability to manage a public sector unit when it is privatised.

Government pauses the Pawan Hans sale after issues were raised about the winning bidder

Almas Global Opportunity Fund, a majority stakeholder in Star9Mobility, has come under the scanner as it was earlier prosecuted by the National Company Law Tribunal. Almas Global is a fund managed by Dubai-based Almas Capital based in the Cayman Islands.

NCLT, in its order, had strongly reprimanded Almas for its failure, and called for action against the company under Section 74(3) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. It had also asked for a copy of its order to be sent to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.“

The strategic disinvestment transaction was implemented through an open, competitive bidding process supported by a multi-layered consultative decision-making mechanism involving (an) Inter-Ministerial Group, (a) Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and the empowered Alternative Mechanism,” the Ministry of Finance said in a press release.

The NCLT had questioned the financial health of the Cayman Islands-based Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC (AGOF), the majority stakeholder in Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd, the winning bidder for Pawan Hans.

The April 22 NCLT order was in connection with Almas Global's successful bid of INR 568 crore for EMC Ltd in insolvency proceedings. EMC was admitted into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process on November 12, 2018, for defaulting on INR 6,500 crore loans.

Almas' resolution plan was approved in October 2019 but the company did not pay any amount except the bank guarantee, leading to a delay in the resolution proceedings.

The reserve price for the sale of 51% shareholding of Pawan Hans was fixed at INR 199.92 crore based on the valuation carried out by the transaction adviser and asset valuer.

On May 14, All India Civil Aviation Employees Union, the employees union of Pawan Hans, had also moved the Delhi High Court seeking its direction to set aside the impugned notice inviting expression of interest dated December 8, 2020, issued by the central government for the proposed strategic disinvestment of Pawan Hans.

The government had received three bids for the Pawan Hans sale. Star9 Mobility had emerged as the highest bidder, quoting INR 211.14 crore, which was above the reserve price.

ALSO READ - Government sells its stake in Pawan Hans to Star9 Mobility for INR 211.14 crore

The reserve price for the sale of 51% shareholding of Pawan Hans was fixed at INR 199.92 crore based on the valuation carried out by the transaction adviser and asset valuer. The other two bids were for INR 181.05 crore and INR 153.15 crore.

On April 29, an empowered cabinet group had given the green signal for Star9 Mobility to buy the government’s 51% stake in the loss-making Pawan Hans.

On April 29, an empowered cabinet group had given the green signal for Star9 Mobility to buy the government’s 51% stake in the loss-making Pawan Hans.

ONGC, which holds the remaining 49% in Pawan Hans, had earlier said it would offer its shareholding to the successful bidder on the price and terms decided by the government.

This consortium of Big Charter Pvt Ltd, Maharaja Aviation Pvt Ltd and Almas Global had offered INR 211.14 crore against the reserve price of INR 199.92 crore fixed by the government. Almas Global holds 49% of the special purpose vehicle (SPV), while Big Charter has 26% and Maharaja Aviation owns 25%.

ONGC, which holds the remaining 49% in Pawan Hans, had earlier said it would offer its shareholding to the successful bidder on the price and terms decided by the government.

Star9 Mobility, was only created in October 2021 and the company has not filed a single annual return, and its paid-up capital was INR 1 lakh. Some reports also said Star9 Mobility doesn't have any helicopters of its own, while Big Charter had just three. Further, Almas Global was alleged to have no experience in this sector.

This is the second instance when the Narendra Modi government’s sale of government assets to private companies has raised questions about the new owners. 

In January, the government had paused the privatisation of Central Electronics Ltd as allegations were raised that the winning bidder Nandlal Finance and the other shortlisted bidder JPM Industries Limited were inter-related.

Pawan Hans was founded in 1985 as a joint venture of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)

ALSO READ - Government gets financial bids in the fourth attempt for Pawan Hans stake

Pawan Hans was founded in 1985 as a joint venture of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). It is the largest helicopter service provider in the country.

In the past three years, Pawan Hans has been registering losses. In FY18-19, it recorded its worst loss of around INR 70 crore, which has improved to losses of around INR 18.5 crore in FY19-20 and around INR 17.6 crore in FY20-21. This came after a sharp profit that it registered in FY16-17 of INR 254 crore.

That year, the government converted the debt of INR 130 crore that Pawan Hans owed into equity and wrote off interest dues of around INR 339 crore – which is what had resulted in the high profit. In the year that preceded it, that is FY15-16, the company had made a profit of around INR 57 crore.

Pawan Hans provides its helicopters for helping in the surveillance of pipelines of not just ONGC, but GAIL and Oil India Limited as well

In the year that followed, that is FY17-18, the company made a profit of around INR 20 crore. The chart and table below track it's revenue and profits since 2016.

Pawan Hans provides its helicopters for search and rescue operations during natural calamities, carries personnel and material for the Border Security Force, and the Border Roads Organisation supports the Power Grid Corporation and helps in the surveillance of pipelines of not just ONGC, but GAIL and Oil India Limited as well.

Pawan Hans helicopters have been deployed by the security forces and have been chartered for a variety of purposes by private persons and government bodies.

Blue Dart Aviation India based in Chennai has said in a job advertisement that it will be expanding its fleet with an unspecified number of B737-800 freighters.

The Indian cargo specialist did not disclose any further details and did not respond to requests for further information.

Blue Dart Aviation currently operates a fleet of six B757-200(PCF)s, according to the ch-aviation fleet advanced module. The cargo specialist was an all-B737 carrier throughout the first two decades of its existence when it operated up to five B737-200(F)s.

The job advertisement where it was mentioned about the B737-800 freighters.

It completed the B737's phase-out in 2014, replacing them with the B757s, according to ch-aviation fleets history module highlights.

The carrier focuses on express freight operations connecting the major Indian cities of Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore Int'l, Delhi Int'l, Kolkata Int'l, and Mumbai Int'l. It is a subsidiary of Bombai Stock Exchange-listed Blue Dart Express logistics firm.

All six Boeing 757-200(PCF)s make up the entire fleet of Blue Dart and are between 24 to almost 30 years old. The oldest of the six, VT-BDO (29.68 years), entered service in 1992 with Britannia Airways and was converted into a freighter in 2002 for Boullioun Aviation Services.

Blue Dart Aviation India to add B737-800 freighters to its fleet

After flying cargo for a couple of other carriers, it entered Blue Dart's fleet in July 2012. Established in 1995, Blue Dart Aviation is an all-cargo airline based in Chennai, India. The carrier is wholly owned by Blue Dart Express.

Blue Dart operates scheduled night express cargo flights and domestic and regional charters from its base at Chennai International Airport. In addition, Blue Dart Aviation also provides aircraft maintenance and engineering support to other airlines.

(With Inputs from ch-aviation)

Jet Airways on Sunday, May 15 conducted the first set of three proving flights with 18 people, including officials of the aviation regulator DGCA, onboard the aircraft, sources said.

The second set of two proving flights will be operated by Jet Airways on Tuesday, May 17. The second one will be Delhi-Hyderabad-Delhi.

The first of the three proving flights were conducted on the Delhi-Mumbai route, sources said.

ALSO READ - Jet Airways to have the best app and website; proving flights soon

Jet Airways Successfully Operated First Set of Proving Flights

Proving flights is the last step for the airline to obtain the air operator certificate (AOC). Proving flights require airlines to show that they can handle all commercial operations, which means Jet Airways set up its check-in counters, baggage services, and crew management.

The second flight was scheduled to return to Delhi, but after it departed from Mumbai, officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked the pilots to divert it to Ahmedabad. The DGCA diverts aircraft during proving flights to test the readiness of a new airline in handling such situations.

The second flight safely landed in Ahmedabad, and sometime after that, the third flight was conducted on the Ahmedabad-Delhi route. The aircraft used for these three proving flights was a Boeing 737 plane with registration number VT-SXE of Jet Airways.

There were 18 people -- four cabin crew members, two pilots, and 12 others, including DGCA officials and senior executives of Jet Airways -- onboard the plane during these three proving flights.

A total of five landings (five flights) have to be done by the aircraft to successfully complete its proving flights. Three landings were conducted on Sunday, May 15 and therefore, the remaining two will be conducted on Tuesday, May 17.

ALSO READ – Jet Airways conducts test flight after more than 3 years

Jet Airways had on May 5 conducted its test flight to and from Hyderabad in a step toward obtaining the AOC.

The airline plans to restart commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter.

ALSO READ – Jet Airways 2.0 gets security clearance from Home Ministry

Recently, The Union Home Ministry has granted security clearance to Jet Airways which is planning to relaunch commercial flight operations in the next few months, according to an official document. The letter was also sent to aviation safety regulator DGCA and aviation security regulator BCAS.

The airline in its old avatar was owned by Naresh Goyal and had operated its last flight on April 17, 2019. The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways. The airline plans to restart commercial flight operations in the July-September quarter.

Cover Image - Anshul Kadam (Twitter)