Delhi might not have a fully operational flying club any longer but if you’re willing to drive about a 100 km out of town, you will find a brand new aero sports club in Mahendragarh, Haryana.On Sunday, while paragliding, parasailing, skydiving and hot-air ballooning took place all around him, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced the opening of the Rajiv Gandhi National Centre for Aero Sports at Bachhaud air strip near Narnaul, Mahendragarh. The centre will work towards giving youngsters a platform from which to understand the science of aviation, and also to get up close and personal with the more adventurous side of aviation.
Captain Satish Sharma, chairman of the Aero Club of India, stood side by side with the CM as the aero centre was declared open.
The centre, named after late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been set up by the Department of Civil Aviation, Haryana, in collaboration with the Aero Club of India. The centre will be developed along international lines and, it is hoped, will help give a fillip to India’s participation at world aero sports events. Up to now our participation in such events has been woefully limited.
Sanction has already been given for the purchase of an ultra-modern, multi-engine simulator at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore to help better training facilities at Karnal. It has also been proposed that a flying training academy be set up in the state. In addition, air strips at Pinjore, Narnaul, Hisar and Bhiwani will be further developed.
The centre, it is planned, will provide cheap training and facilities to the people who cannot afford it by charging more from the people who can afford it and who dabble in aero sports as a hobby.
On Sunday too, everybody was invited for a dekho. All you had to do was look up at the sky and daredevil performances of skydiving, paragliding, parasailing, hotair ballooning and aero-modelling enthralled everybody who had come to take a look. The star of the show was 17-year-old village girl Monu, who took everyone’s breath away with a very courageous display of parasailing. The class XII girl was later given a special Rs 51,000 grant for her performance.
Addressing the people who had gathered on Sunday, Hooda said the underlying idea behind setting up the centre was to get youth from the state trained in adventurous aero sports.
In the beginning, the youth will be imparted training in parajumping, parasailing, gliding, hot-air ballooning and micro-light flying at the centre, he said, adding that more adventurous sports would be added to the teaching list later.
The Chief Minister pointed out that three Civil Aviation Department centres were functioning at Karnal, Pinjore and Hisar, which had been training youth from the state to serve with air services both inside the country and outside.
More facilities would be provided for the air strips at Pinjore, Narnaul, Hisar and Bhiwani, he added. The Chief Minister announced a grant of Rs 1 crore each for the development of Mirzapur and Bachhaud villages, which have provided the land for the centre. It was also announced that a road would soon be constructed to link the centre with National Highway-8.
Captain Satish Sharma, Member of Parliament and president, Aero Club of India, said a hangar would soon be built at the aero sports centre.
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