Photos: Indian Navy pilots carrier training in the US



The above photos show Indian Navy pilots being trained in conventional take-off carrier operations at the US Navy’s Naval Air Training Command at Naval Air Station Kingsville, and other institutes, part of an elite Indian Navy strike-pilot programme that commenced in 2006 to train 32 Indian Navy pilots in batches of four every six months over a period of four years.

The Indian pilots follow an identical training trajectory followed by counterpart pilot cadets in the US Navy. The course begins with six weeks of hardcore aviation preflight indoctrination at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. This includes four weeks of theory, swimming instruction and practice, plus two weeks of flight physiology and survival training.

From Pensacola, the Indian pilots move to Naval Air Station Whiting Field, also in Florida, for 18 weeks of flying Beechcraft T-34 Mentor single turboprop trainers. After this, the pilots move to Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas to begin the real stuff — flying jets. But first, there’s three months at Kingsville just for classroom and simulator preparation. After weeks of flying the glass-cockpit simulator, the pilots finally strap into a T-45 Goshawk. But for the first two weeks, they’re made to fly blind — called “flying under a blanket” or instrument hood. Learn to trust your instruments more than anything else, that’s the point. This completes Phase 1 of the six months course.

Phase 2 will be the real juice they’re there for. Weeks upon weeks of tactical combat formation, air combat manoeuvering and air-to-ground weapons delivery. Finally, the real meatball! Training finally ends with a trial by fire — flight qualification on board an American aircraft carrier. But he’s got to perform consistently and deliver immaculate landings on a regular basis to finally get carrier qualified to fly MiG-29Ks and LCA Navy off the INS Vikramaditya and Indigenous Aircraft Carrier.

The first Indian Navy pilot to be carrier qualified (CQ) was Captain Surendra Ahuja, who trapped his T-45C ten times successfully on the USS Enterprise in May 2007. Thus began the Indian Navy’s tryst, with tailhook aviation after a lengthy hiatus, and one that will continue long into the future.

15 thoughts on “Photos: Indian Navy pilots carrier training in the US”

  1. navy can also send their pilots to russia where they can get trainig on kuznetsov on su25 or on su33 as well cuz it similar to gorky

  2. 1. i tot india has its own training facility for naval airplane launch rite? in fact the can train on the current acc in service.

    2. i tot USA uses CATAPULT take off and arrested landing. The new carriers we r buying are ramp take off, arrested landing. so whats the point of doind CATAPULT training? Short/ramp tae off drills can be done, as i say above, in our current carrier

    SHIV PLS ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. U EVERYTIME IGNORE WHAT I ASK U.

  3. My God Shiv..
    India Today is showing ex service officers as Terrorist in MP and linking them with BJP..

    Aims…and objectives…

    Immidiate >.scuttle Gom postive decion..

    Bring pressure on Ex service men..
    Malign ex service men and Armed Forces amongst people..Intelligensia..

    Force BJP on defensive…No ex servicemen movement and sopport to servicemen…

    Tell Armed Forces they are the bosses.. demoralise them..

    Demoralise Armed Forces and their Chiefs to submissions..

    Now. Dangers… if ex servicemen really turn out to be terrorists and used RDX and explosives to make the bomb as IPS is claiming in defamtion ..

    What will happen..

    IAS and IPS will not survive even for a week…

    They are palying with fire…they have forgotten Charles de Gaulle and France ..and ex servicemen…

    That is Dangerious… That is really dangerious…India Today is the front runner in the Camapign…

  4. The babus seem to have surely launched a tirade against the services. Now the print chaps seem to be going nuts over the Sahayak thing in that report which seems to have been leaked by the babus only, forgetting that the bureaucrats, the IPS chaps and everyone out there keeps sahayaks, and in fact more than the faujis, which no one seems to notice.

    Why dont you defence correspondents highlight these things, instead of writing just about one sided things.

  5. hey shiv, u have not mentioned about training in airforce academy in hyderbad.

    also most of these pilots are sitting idle after training as the Mig 29 have not arrived.They are getting married and stuff like that.

    Senior pilots have alredy trained on the IAF MiG 29s and infact one of them crashed at Ambala.

  6. there were bird hits also, and engine problems kept nagging.
    The navy should never buy the Goshawk, else they would undergo the same experience as that of the IAF with the hawks, the next fighter batch will have only 50% of the required strength. many of the new hawks are not airworthy. why doesnt the medi critise the non russians??

  7. @ anons @ 5:25pm and 10:50 pm
    ofcourse, once these guys return from US, they r headed to russia for training on Mig-29Ks..my brother is one among them….he's in D.C. now…

    India has its own facility for ski-launch training at a naval base in kerala…but that's only for practising take-offs & touchdowns from a dummy platform…landing on a moving ship, against headwing requires considerable skill…few batches of pilots are at present undergoing training there b4 Vikramaditya arrives….

    as regards to the reason for US based training,its for the indgenious ADS/IAC….the second version of this carrier is going to have catapult launch facility.

  8. “Thus began the Indian Navy’s tryst with tailhook aviation, and one that will continue long into the future.”

    Thus began??!!

    How do you think the Sea Hawk and the Alize stopped on the aircraft carriers?

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