Basic medical facilities may not be available to all in India, but a job as a pilot, well, as recent developments expose, is not very difficult to get if you have a thick wallet.
In its latest breakthrough, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police, investigating the case of Airline Transport Pilot Licences (ATPLs) and Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) in wake of the furore over issuance of fake pilot licences, on April 6, arrested two more officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), exposing the rot in a system that has long been known to be an exclusive premise of the high and mighty. It is quite evident now that it was impossible to work the system without the help of DGCA insiders. The point gathers weight as out of a total of thirteen individuals arrested in this regard so far, three are DGCA officials.
The DGCA has been known to dole out favours and change regulations to suit airlines and the siblings of senior ministry officials, and it had all been smooth sailing for the fraudsters until IndiGo pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati landed on the nose wheel of her plane at the Goa airport, though not for the first time. Investigations into Gulati’s faulty landing in January revealed that she had obtained her licence based on a fake marksheet. Further probe revealed that Passi’s daughter Garima, a pilot with SpiceJet, had also obtained her licence through a fake marksheet, allegedly with her father’s assistance. DGCA Assistant Director Pradeep Kumar in the licensing department and R. K. Passi, Director, Safety, DGCA, are among those in the Crime Branch net for allegedly assisting touts, mostly comprising of flying school instructors in Madhya Pradesh and Ahmedabad, to obtain pilot licences using forged documents.
Furthermore, former DGCA chief and now Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, S. N. A Zaidi’s son was employed with Jet Airways. The son of R. P. Sahi, Joint Director General, DGCA, was also a Jet Airways employee. Deputy Director-General A. K. Sharan’s daughter worked for IndiGo Airlines. Director, Air Transport, Lalit Gupta’s daughter handled revenue management for IndiGo. Chief Flight Operations Inspector Capt. H. Y. Samant’s daughter also worked for a private carrier.
“Unlike previous instances where we were unsure whether the DGCA Assistant Director knew that he was pushing for licences based on doctored marksheets, in this case, both the DGCA officials were fully aware that they were using fake marksheets. Thus, while only Rs.25,000 was charged by Kumar to expedite the process of issuing these fake licences, the duo arrested by us charged Rs.4.50 lakh from the tout operating from Ahmedabad,” DCP (Crime) Ashok Chand told B&E. The three pilots currently in the dock include Capt. Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR Airlines, Capt Meenakshi Singhal of Indigo Airlines and Capt. J. K. Verma of Air India.
In the meantime, the Government was also quick in its display of action against those linked to the fake pilot licence scam and set up an independent committee for the scrutiny of all 4,500 ATPLs, 10,000 CPL licences along with an audit of the 40-odd flying schools in the country. While Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi says the Government will not spare anyone found guilty, experts say that there is an urgent need to overhaul processes within the DGCA. Before we delve into the intricacies over how the system can be manipulated to suit a privileged few, here is a quick look into the pilot licence racket and how it operates.
To qualify for a CPL, which is issued by flying schools, a candidate needs to register a minimum of 200 hours of flying. Flying schools, however, have been found to issue licences just after 40-50 hours of flying for consideration. The process also mandates that the CPL has to be verified by the DGCA. However, with no audit in place to see whether flying schools are sticking to the prescribed norms, the process can be easily manipulated. Furthermore, ATPLs, a pre-requisite for a pilot to become a commander, can be procedurally obtained after clearing a written test conducted by the DGCA. However, according to reliable sources in the aviation sector, results can be tampered through touts and DGCA officials at an estimated cost of Rs.5-12 lakh. Similarly, for a job in an airline, middlemen are contacted through senior pilots and the cost of landing a job could vary anywhere between Rs.15-25 lakh.
One of the biggest reasons that experts attribute to the dismal state of the aviation sector in India lies in the way the process of examinations and issuing licences can be manipulated across levels. Maintaining that there is a robust system – section 31(d) of the Aircraft rules – that provides for stringent measures against fraudulent means, Kanu Gohain, former DGCA chief tells B&E, “There has to be a renewed focus on stricter vigilance, intelligence gathering and a thorough background screening mechanism. Full computerisation of processes is one option that the government should ideally be looking at.”
Agrees Rishabh Kapur, Secretary General of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA). “The best way forward towards ensuring transparency in the process is to minimise human intervention,” he says. When asked about the reasons that encourages aspirants towards such fraudulent means, he raises a different concern. “In India, there are only four pilot examinations conducted in a year as compared to five times a week in the US and UK. The current curriculum is also outdated. All this is leading fresh pass-outs towards unethical means. I am not endorsing what they (the alleged fraudsters) have done, but the process practically leaves them with no choice,” says Rishabh. Some experts feel that India’s aviation regulator needs to probe all pilot licences issued 2004 onwards, i.e. during the aviation industry’s boom period. The demand gains ground as for a significant period of 2005-09, the DGCA also did away with the need to pass Physics and Mathematics in Class XII for a CPL. Interestingly, between 2004 and 2009, there was a horde of co-pilots aged 23-25 who were made commanders.
With all the major airlines and regulators having either neglected or turned a blind eye towards this decline in the safety standards, what we can derive from the entire fiasco is that the accountability for the negligence needs to be fixed right from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the DGCA. However, with the Civil Aviation Ministry’s dismal track record of bringing the accountable to book and the involvement of top government officials in the scam, the future looks uncertain. So, till the time we have safer skies, which is only likely after a genuine and thorough overhaul of the regulatory authorities, here’s wishing all the luck to all you frequent fliers.
In its latest breakthrough, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police, investigating the case of Airline Transport Pilot Licences (ATPLs) and Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) in wake of the furore over issuance of fake pilot licences, on April 6, arrested two more officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), exposing the rot in a system that has long been known to be an exclusive premise of the high and mighty. It is quite evident now that it was impossible to work the system without the help of DGCA insiders. The point gathers weight as out of a total of thirteen individuals arrested in this regard so far, three are DGCA officials.
The DGCA has been known to dole out favours and change regulations to suit airlines and the siblings of senior ministry officials, and it had all been smooth sailing for the fraudsters until IndiGo pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati landed on the nose wheel of her plane at the Goa airport, though not for the first time. Investigations into Gulati’s faulty landing in January revealed that she had obtained her licence based on a fake marksheet. Further probe revealed that Passi’s daughter Garima, a pilot with SpiceJet, had also obtained her licence through a fake marksheet, allegedly with her father’s assistance. DGCA Assistant Director Pradeep Kumar in the licensing department and R. K. Passi, Director, Safety, DGCA, are among those in the Crime Branch net for allegedly assisting touts, mostly comprising of flying school instructors in Madhya Pradesh and Ahmedabad, to obtain pilot licences using forged documents.
Furthermore, former DGCA chief and now Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, S. N. A Zaidi’s son was employed with Jet Airways. The son of R. P. Sahi, Joint Director General, DGCA, was also a Jet Airways employee. Deputy Director-General A. K. Sharan’s daughter worked for IndiGo Airlines. Director, Air Transport, Lalit Gupta’s daughter handled revenue management for IndiGo. Chief Flight Operations Inspector Capt. H. Y. Samant’s daughter also worked for a private carrier.
“Unlike previous instances where we were unsure whether the DGCA Assistant Director knew that he was pushing for licences based on doctored marksheets, in this case, both the DGCA officials were fully aware that they were using fake marksheets. Thus, while only Rs.25,000 was charged by Kumar to expedite the process of issuing these fake licences, the duo arrested by us charged Rs.4.50 lakh from the tout operating from Ahmedabad,” DCP (Crime) Ashok Chand told B&E. The three pilots currently in the dock include Capt. Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR Airlines, Capt Meenakshi Singhal of Indigo Airlines and Capt. J. K. Verma of Air India.
In the meantime, the Government was also quick in its display of action against those linked to the fake pilot licence scam and set up an independent committee for the scrutiny of all 4,500 ATPLs, 10,000 CPL licences along with an audit of the 40-odd flying schools in the country. While Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi says the Government will not spare anyone found guilty, experts say that there is an urgent need to overhaul processes within the DGCA. Before we delve into the intricacies over how the system can be manipulated to suit a privileged few, here is a quick look into the pilot licence racket and how it operates.
To qualify for a CPL, which is issued by flying schools, a candidate needs to register a minimum of 200 hours of flying. Flying schools, however, have been found to issue licences just after 40-50 hours of flying for consideration. The process also mandates that the CPL has to be verified by the DGCA. However, with no audit in place to see whether flying schools are sticking to the prescribed norms, the process can be easily manipulated. Furthermore, ATPLs, a pre-requisite for a pilot to become a commander, can be procedurally obtained after clearing a written test conducted by the DGCA. However, according to reliable sources in the aviation sector, results can be tampered through touts and DGCA officials at an estimated cost of Rs.5-12 lakh. Similarly, for a job in an airline, middlemen are contacted through senior pilots and the cost of landing a job could vary anywhere between Rs.15-25 lakh.
One of the biggest reasons that experts attribute to the dismal state of the aviation sector in India lies in the way the process of examinations and issuing licences can be manipulated across levels. Maintaining that there is a robust system – section 31(d) of the Aircraft rules – that provides for stringent measures against fraudulent means, Kanu Gohain, former DGCA chief tells B&E, “There has to be a renewed focus on stricter vigilance, intelligence gathering and a thorough background screening mechanism. Full computerisation of processes is one option that the government should ideally be looking at.”
Agrees Rishabh Kapur, Secretary General of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA). “The best way forward towards ensuring transparency in the process is to minimise human intervention,” he says. When asked about the reasons that encourages aspirants towards such fraudulent means, he raises a different concern. “In India, there are only four pilot examinations conducted in a year as compared to five times a week in the US and UK. The current curriculum is also outdated. All this is leading fresh pass-outs towards unethical means. I am not endorsing what they (the alleged fraudsters) have done, but the process practically leaves them with no choice,” says Rishabh. Some experts feel that India’s aviation regulator needs to probe all pilot licences issued 2004 onwards, i.e. during the aviation industry’s boom period. The demand gains ground as for a significant period of 2005-09, the DGCA also did away with the need to pass Physics and Mathematics in Class XII for a CPL. Interestingly, between 2004 and 2009, there was a horde of co-pilots aged 23-25 who were made commanders.
With all the major airlines and regulators having either neglected or turned a blind eye towards this decline in the safety standards, what we can derive from the entire fiasco is that the accountability for the negligence needs to be fixed right from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the DGCA. However, with the Civil Aviation Ministry’s dismal track record of bringing the accountable to book and the involvement of top government officials in the scam, the future looks uncertain. So, till the time we have safer skies, which is only likely after a genuine and thorough overhaul of the regulatory authorities, here’s wishing all the luck to all you frequent fliers.
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