NAVAL PILOTS AWARDED ‘WINGS’ AT INS RAJALI
Chennai 09 December 2022
A Passing Out Parade was held today to mark the graduation of 99 Helicopter Conversion Course (HCC) at Nav al Air Station – INS Rajali, Arakkonam. Nine officers of the Indian Navy were awarded the prestigious Wings b y Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, VSM, Flag Officer Naval Aviation and Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area. A dditionally, the Indian Navy has, for the first time, undertaken Stage One Training of helicopter pilots, which hith erto used to be carried out with the Indian Air Force. The officers underwent rigorous flying and ground training for 22 weeks at the Indian Naval Air Squadron 561, the alma mater of all helicopter pilots of Indian Navy.
The newly qualified pilots will be appointed to various units across the Indian Navy to carry out missions su ch as Reconnaissance, Surveillance, Casualty evacuation, SAR and anti-piracy patrols along. The officers who ha ve successfully completed Stage One Training will be retained in the Squadron for Stage Two training.
During the course, the trainee pilots are introduced to several nuances of helicopter flying. The pilots und ergo a challenging syllabus which includes navigation, night flying, formation flying and Search and Rescue oper ations over sea. At the end of the course, the trainees are awarded for their performance.
The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Rolling Trophy for the trainee pilot stand ing first in order of merit in Flying was awarded to Lt Satishraj Pradhan. The Sub Lieutenant Kunte Memorial Bo ok Prize for standing first in order of merit in ground subjects was awarded to Lt Rupesh B Hingase. The Govern or of Kerala Rolling Trophy for standing first in overall order of merit in 99th HCC was awarded to Lt Satishraj Pr adhan.
The Helicopter Training School was originally setup at Kochi in 1971. In 1992, it was shifted to INS Rajali, Arakkonam which is one of the largest military airfields of the country and is presently commanded by Commod ore R Vinod Kumar. The prestigious Helicopter Training School is commanded by Captain Pranay Kumar Pandey who is a Qualified Flying Instructor. It has trained 795 pilots of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard as well as friendly foreign nations.
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PS/RMP/SS/12/22
