We test pilots before joining, apart from training them after recruitment, insist airlines.
To ensure that pilots with fake licences do not fly planes in India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will introduce a skill test for commercial pilot licence (CPL) holders from abroad. A person needs to have an experience of 250 hours of flying to get a CPL.
“We are bringing in more controls and greater oversight over these foreign licences. People are going abroad and getting licences, so when they come back, we are going to insist on a skill test,” said E K Bharat Bhushan, director general, DGCA.
As of now, CPL holders from outside are not subjected to any tests. Airlines, however, say they test pilots before joining and also train them after recruiting. DGCA is introducing norms to allow type rating of pilots outside only if the aircraft is not available in India. A pilot has to go for type rating to fly a certain kind of aircraft that requires additional training on that particular aircraft.
“And, we are going to allow people to go abroad for type rating only if that particular aircraft model is not available in India. Otherwise, they will have to do it in India,” Bhusan said.
Meanwhile, to fix the system, the government and DCGA are considering various ways, including conducting the Airlines Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) examination online and to try implementing it by July.
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To become a commander, a co-pilot with requisite flying hours additionally needs to appear for a test. The requisite flying hours are 2,000 hours. DGCA has asked all airlines to monitor the hiring and training of co-pilots in a more effective manner and also file a monthly report to the ministry on this.
The aviation regulator has also ordered that any addition of expatriate pilots in any airline will need clearance from them on a case-to-case basis. There are 450 expatriate pilots in the country and the new date for replacing them with Indian pilots is December 31, 2013.
So far, six people have been arrested, including three pilots, in the fake pilot case. The first to be apprehended was suspended IndiGo pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati on March 8 and J K Verma of Air India four days later. Meenakshi Sehgal of IndiGo, another suspect, has obtained a court order preventing her arrest, though she has been asked to join investigations.
Pilots Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR and Syed Habib Ali and Bhupinder Singh, allegedly with fake licences but not working with any airline, are on the run. Delhi Police has issued a lookout notice against them.