Georgia is one of the hottest centres for aviation schools catering to Indian students; Florida is another. The Miami-based Dean International has become so busy that it bought 32 extra training planes and hired 23 additional instructors, according to recent reports.
'They have a big economic impact on this area,' The Miami Herald recently quoted Robert Dean, owner of Dean International, as saying about the foreign students coming to Dean and other area aviation schools. 'Every single one of them goes out and buys a laptop. They spend money in restaurants and to occupy housing.'
The downside however is that air traffic controllers are required to communicate with a large number of inexperienced fliers who do not always understand complex, rapid-fire instructions in American-accented English, the Herald noted.
Fees are on the steep side, and typically range between $40,000 to $50,000. And getting into one of these schools is not easy. In the wake of 9/11 and consequent fears in the US intelligence agencies of more suicide attacks involving planes, the background checks are extremely thorough, and admission is denied if there is anything remotely off-kilter about the background of a student.
Also see: Study explodes myth of the 'model minority'
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