Systematic intervention is the need of the hour in the Drone sector: Rajiv Bansal, Former Civil Aviation Secretary, GoI
Drone is no longer a toy, and it is much more: Tan Kah Han, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Director CAAS, Singapore
HYDERABAD, January 19. Systematic intervention is the need of the hour in the Drone space said Mr. Rajiv Bansal, Former Secretary, of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India and CEO, NISG (National Institute of Smart Government) today moderating a panel discussion ‘Flight to the Future: Drone Revolutionizing the Aviation Landscape’ on day-two of Wings India 2024, organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India and FICCI.
Mr. Bansal said that the drone sector is the most happening space. “A lot of drone pilots are being trained now. Several hundreds and thousands of Drone Pilot licenses have been issued,” he added. Speaking on the role of women pilots he stated that currently there are 18 per cent women drone pilots out of the 1600 licenses issued last year. Since we set a global benchmark in civil aviation, the same can be repeated in drones in terms of several drone women pilots, he added.
Mr. SC Sharma, Joint Director of the Quality Council of India emphasized quality control and added that the cost of attaining good quality products is much lesser than a poor-quality product. Quality and safety play a very important role, he noted.
Mr. Tan Kah Han, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Director for Unmanned Systems Group, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said that Hyderabad’s population is 60 per cent of Singapore’s. “We are a small country and Singapore needs drones to improve the way we work, live and teach. Drone is no longer a toy, it is much more,” he said
Mr. Anshu Abhishek, COO & Co-founder, Techeagle spoke on the Drone Delivery of Medicine.
Mr. Deepak Bharadwaj, Director & Co-founder, ToTechWorld Aviation spoke about connecting technology with farmers and their pioneering work in the manufacture of agri drones and elevating their earning capacity of farmers by way of better spray capacity.
Wing Commander (Retd), Ajit Mate, Lead System Engineer, at Boeing Air Traffic Management, spoke about payload carrying capacity which is currently at about 50 kgs and is likely to increase as we go along.
The panel delved into the transformative potential of drones and their impact on air travel, transportation and logistics both in India and abroad.
In another panel on ‘Women in Aviation – fostering gender-neutral opportunities in aviation’, Mr. Vikram Dev Dutt. DG, DGCSA said greater women participation in aviation is a game changer and force multiplier. The number of women pilots is increasing in India however, women in meaningful senior leadership are still a challenge. He along with Ms Rubina Ali, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India moderated the panel discussion.
The session aimed to facilitate discussions, share inspiring narratives and develop strategies that will create a more inclusive aviation industry
Ms. Rubina said once male-dominated bastions of civil aviation now has women pilots, aeronautical engineers and women in many other positions that she never dreamt of.
Ms. Anju Madeka, CEO of Durgapur Airport said that she had to prove to stay competitive in the industry. The future in aviation is women, she added. Mr. Philip Cumming, Deputy Minister Counsellor, the Embassy of the United States of America said India has set a benchmark in women pilots while the world average was 8 per cent.
Day two of the Wings India 2024 saw many panel discussions on different subjects–Skill Development, Startups & FTOs, MRO, Travel and Tourism, Aircraft Leasing etc. of greater importance to the aviation industry.
