Wing Commander Akanksha Pandey (Retd) is a defence aviation professional and former Indian Air Force Fighter Controller with fourteen years of operational service experience. She specialises in air power doctrine, tactical air control, multi-domain operations, and defence procurement. Having served during Operations URI, Balakot, and Sindoor, she now serves as COO of Voran Pvt Ltd, focusing on next-generation mobility ecosystems. She actively contributes to aviation policy, governance reform, rural connectivity, national security discourse, and strategic advisory engagements.
I want to Break Free.
December 2025. I hung up my uniform after 14 years in the Indian Air Force. Behind me were the fighter controller screens, tactical operations, and the comforting structure of military precision. Ahead of me? A massive, gaping void in the Indian sky.
Let’s look at — How does India actually perceive aviation?
To the average Indian, a plane is either an economy seat on a commercial airliner, a premium corporate charter, or a defense machine, or a “big boy’s toy”. It is entirely transactional, distant, and locked behind high walls.
Even my husband — a fighter pilot ; who flies the MiG-29 , has never experienced the simple, unadulterated joy of General Aviation in India. A fighter pilot who tames supersonic steel has never seen a thriving, accessible hobby-flying or experimental culture in his own country.
Cross the oceans to the US or Europe. There, flying is a lifestyle. Experimental flying is a standard weekend protocol. Aircraft ownership is common.
People think the bottleneck in Indian aviation is money.It is not .
It’s the red tape.
Thankfully, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA India have finally started reading from a different script. With the push toward reducing compliance burdens, we are seeing a massive transition. Streamlined airworthiness regulations—moving closer to global EASA standards—are replacing the old, exhausting compliance structures that used to kill aviation startups before they even got off the ground.
Look at the actual mechanics of the rules today. Under Rule 15 of the Aircraft Rules, we don’t need to chase standard commercial certificates for these machines; we operate under a Special Certificate of Airworthiness. More importantly, the human barrier has dropped. You don’t need a massive engineering degree or an expensive commercial pilot license to get a Student Pilot License for an ultralight aircraft. A 10th-grade qualification is the baseline. The sky is literally opening up to the common man.
But here’s the catch: the rules exist, but the infrastructure doesn’t. You can’t just import a foreign kit, stitch it together in a backyard, and hope for the best. To build a real ecosystem, you have to build a type-approved engineering pipeline. You need ground tests for material stress, localized manufacturing capability, and rigorous test-flight programs.
This is exactly where Rajiv Rawat , Sashin Acharya and I (Akanksha Pandey) decided to stop complaining and start building.
At VORAN Private Limited we aren’t just selling a product; we are hacking a new path. We are bringing the infrastructure, the regulatory alignment, and the machines down to a scale that makes sense for a rising India.
Aviation shouldn’t just belong to the airlines, the cargo giants, or the defense forces. It belongs to the dreamers.
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Indian Civil Aviation Business Cycle