I remember my first visit to the United States over a decade ago. Landing from my small, bustling hometown of Meerut, India, I was instantly awestruck. The silence, the systematic flow of traffic, the lack of honking—it was a world engineered for flawless human convenience. Everything was neat, clean, and in order . For nearly a year, I was hypnotized. I praised this country for its efficiency, its cleanliness, and, notably, its lack of stray animals . Where were the dogs, the cows, the insects that are a normal part of life back home? The US, I thought, was truly a superior model of civilization. My clothes never even collected dust; it seemed the entire landscape was sterilized. But as the years passed, the hypnosis began to fade. I started asking a darker question: What is the price of this perfect order? The Cost of the Empty Road My initial praise for the US was based on what I didn't see: no stray animals, no swarming insects, no dust. I realized this absence wasn't a s...
Still passing through the struggling phase of being a pilot, for the past few days I have been searching for a flight school near me that can cost me the least.
Even though this is a big joke in itself, and I am the biggest fool to be expecting this, I don’t know what hope sprang up in me.
I am only earning 45 thousand per month, and in this salary I cannot think of spending 10 lakhs on flight training at the present time.
The option that I am considering is to go for microlight training or paramotor training.
Flight schools near me that provide paramotor training are in Gurgaon, present Gurugram, or in Hisar, Haryana.
These two options are only individual offerings and there is no formal institution as such.
I am thinking what benefit I can have if I train myself in paramotor.
Do airlines count or consider paramotor flying experience? (question)
The two flying lessons near me that I mentioned, Gurugram and Hisar, are both charging 1 lakh for the training.
This is more than two months of my salary provided that I am able to save it completely, which is next to impossible.
I would have to do some part time job along with my regular job if I want to save enough money to get a chance to fly.
Along with the question mentioned above, I have another question, how this paramotor training will benefit me in my ultimate objective of flying for an airline.
Even if I want to build flying hours in a paramotor, I need a paramotor paraglider in the first place.
After completing my training, I will need more money to continue flying.
A paramotor, a used one, costs at least 2 - 4 lakh rupees. After that I will have to search for a place where I can fly that bird.
The problem in India is that it is difficult to find a wide open area where you can fly small ultra or microlight planes without any hindrance.
I am ready to go for paramotor training today. I can loan this much money from someone, but what is stopping me is what I will do after completing the training.
This weekend, I searched for a microlight flight school near me, pay attention to microlight not paramotor, there is a difference between the two and I can explain to you if you want.
Well, there is no microlight pilot institute near me, and the nearest that is available is in the southern part of India, near Bangalore, now Bengaluru.
I dared to call the institute there, even though I was aware that It was of no use.
Education seems to be expensive in the southern part of India. I can say this because the paramotor training which costs 1 lakh in Gurugram, an institute in Pune is charging 2.5 lakhs for the same training.
With this example I can say that learning anything is expensive in the southern part of India particularly near Bangalore. I was expecting the same kind of expensive reply as I was calling at this place.
Kind of an old voice answered my call. My query ended when I learned that microlight training till obtaining a license will cost 10 lakhs.
After listening to the cost of training, my motivation had touched the floor once again. For me this is a crime to imagine.
So this was the end of the two hour search operation.
During my search I came across another option.
This guy had posted a video online, in which he explained that they are conducting paramotor trike training near Garhmukteshwar.
For those who do not know, this place is nearly 100 km from the Delhi airport, towards the east, or Uttar Pradesh side.
I WhatsApp this guy, but he has not responded to me yet.
He responded just once though, but when I asked about flying training there was no response from him.
Looks like he has been forced to close down.
So, there are nearly zero options to acquire actual flying experience in the Indian aviation sector, except to get on the big airplanes, and the same is the case with amateur flyers.
The only option, a legal one to say, is to get in the big airlines. This is the reason that a pilot job in India is still considered so elite.
A commercial pilot in India has much more value and gets so many more privileges in India than that in the US.
In the US, a pilot profession is well-respected and admired, but the value is nothing more than that of a driver.
This is the reason many starting pilots in the US are known to be sleeping on a couch of an FBO as they are not paid enough by the regional airline they are flying for, plus no layover facility is provided by regional airlines.
This is something that is not heard in India yet.
My struggle to be absorbed in an airline in India has taught me that I need at least 2.5 lakh per month income to have a chance at it.
This income should be independent of me, meaning I should not be involved in earning it, or it should definitely not be location or time specific.
Taking up the question - Do airlines count or consider paramotor flying experience?
Well, I googled it and there is no credible answer. Some people have answered it on Quora but they are for the American setting rather than for the Indian setting.
To my calculation, in Indian calculation it is not counted towards gaining an entry in airlines, because if it had been there must have been rules from DGCA.
The fact that it is still unregulated means that this flying will not be counted for stepping up.
So learning paramotoring will not serve my ultimate objective.
However, not everything is negative about paramotoring. First positive thing is that it will help me in staying away from the phobia of flying.
My body will be accustomed to being in the air and how it feels to be up there. This will be beneficial and my mind and body will not be on high alert when I get in a trainer plane.
Second plus point is that it may help me in forming some connections. Although, the only option of earning through flying is the joy ride or training.
Other than that there is no commercial use of flying a paramotor.
Thus, even though these flying hours may or may not be counted towards upgradation, it will certainly keep you hooked up to flying.
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