As part of extending the academy’s functioning to Kannur, the 11 students, their trainers and the aircraft engineers had reached here to conduct flight training.

As part of extending the academy’s functioning to Kannur, the 11 students, their trainers and the aircraft engineers had reached here to conduct flight training.

As part of extending the academy’s functioning to Kannur, the 11 students, their trainers and the aircraft engineers had reached here to conduct flight training.

Kannur: An off – campus center of the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology, owned by the government of Kerala, would be opened at the Kannur International Airport. The academy currently operates with Thiruvanathapuram airport as its main base. The institute offers certificate courses in commercial and private pilot licenses.

As part of extending the academy’s functioning to Kannur, the 11 students, their trainers and the aircraft engineers had reached here to conduct flight training. 3 Cessna 172 aircrafts too have been brought to the Kannur airport. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flagged off the first aircraft that did the test flight. The aircraft was flown by captain Mallikarjun who hails from Karnataka. Meanwhile, it was his daughter Moulya who had been on the side as a trainee pilot.

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KIAL MD V Thulasidas, who is also the academy director, said that flying from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur and back, as part of the training would help the cadets secure their pilot licenses pretty quickly.

The cadets would be given the commercial pilot license only if they fly for at least 200 hours. The authorities hope that more candidates from the Malabar regions would join the aviation courses once the academy begins the off – campus center at Kannur.