Provide new aircraft, simulator at Nagpur Flying Club: Bombay High Court

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Aero Club of India (ACI) to allot a flight simulator and latest multi-engine aircraft to the Nagpur Flying Club (NFC) within six months.

A division bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Arun Upadhye issued the directives before disposing of the PIL filed by the late flight lieutenant (retd) Shridhar Ghatate in 2014. Ghatate, a former secretary of NFC, passed away in 2016 following which his counsel Shriniwas Deshpande filed an application for making the deceased's wife Sumedha the substitute petitioner.

Ghatate and Deshpande, also an ex-NFC member, had fought hard to revive the club after it was closed down in 1999 on account of the government's failure to fill up vacant post of chief flying instructor (CFI). They filed a petition in 2003 but their efforts bore fruit only in 2007 when the government reopened the Club on court directive. NFC restarted with Cessna-152 VT-ENC aircraft on November 14, 2007, and also secured a 'Certificate of airworthiness' from DGCA.

Deshpande said the court didn't specify the number of multi-engine aircraft to be provided to the club but directed the ACI to add as many as possible.