ISLAMABAD: Removing doubts surrounding the licences of Pakistani pilots, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has cleared 180 Pakistani pilots serving in different airlines after minutely verifying and checking their licences.
According to the third party inquiry report finalised in June 2020, more than 250 pilots had been identified to have suspect pilots licences due to anomalies found in their computer based exams. The pilots having suspected licences were immediately suspended after the news about these licences made its way in the national and international media/social media.
The final investigations carefully carried out and compiled by PCAA, sources said, was also referred to the Federal Cabinet for information and a decision to cancel the licences of those pilots against whom it was established that their exams were fake. The Cabinet was informed that the inquiry had been undertaken in the spirit of zero tolerance and transparency, keeping in view the safety of passengers and air travel. The figures further revealed that 82 pilots had been found to have committed fraud and misrepresentation while taking the technical examinations. Orders to cancel 50 licences have been issued (barring those who have obtained stay orders), while lower category licences of 32 pilots have been suspended for a period ranging from 06 to 09 months.
The source also revealed that 180 licences of those pilots have been cleared who had given the examinations as per rules but had either committed violations of flight duty time limitations, had anomalies related to rescheduling of examinations or errors in data provided by airlines operators. Warnings have been issued to 42 pilots while 19 pilots have so far taken stay orders from the court.
The information made available with the newspaper revealed that the PCAA has completed its report in a short period of three months. The issue of ‘dubious’ licences drew attention after the statement of Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan in the Parliament in June, 2020 that there were 860 active pilots in the country and 260 pilots had not sat their exams themselves and almost 30 per cent of the pilots had fake or improper licences.
The foreign aviation regulator instructed its airlines to immediately ground Pakistani pilots till the CAA verified the authenticity of their flying permits. After the news flashed in media outlets, the airlines in different countries had also sought verification of licences of Pakistani pilots from PCAA.
Shortly afterwards, the PCAA initiated the verification process by involving the concerned departments. All available physical evidence of all the pilots was carefully checked and investigated to get to the bottom of entire affair. Pilots were also asked to appear in person, in case they wanted to explain their side of the story face to face.
The ‘dubious’ licences issue also caught the attention of several other countries and airlines where Pakistani pilots were employed. It is expected that the early conclusion to the whole affair will restore the confidence of the international community in the Pakistani aviation sector.
