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Next time you fly, along with buying your flight insurance, ask for the pilot's licence because in the last eight weeks as many as six pilots have been found with fake certificates. IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet have all been taken in.
Privately, some airlines admit that their call centres have received calls from passengers asking questions.
There are 40 pilot training schools in India. Until now they were unaudited for standards.
But, given the latest controversy about fake mark sheets being used by some pilots, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Vayalar Ravi, has said that all 40 flying schools in the country will be audited. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) requires 1,500 hours of flying experience for a pilot to get a licence.
However, some airlines like IndiGo maintain that they insist on 3,000 hours of flying experience for an Indian pilot to get a licence. DGCA is said to be taking a second look at around 4,500 pilot licences issued in the last couple of years.
“What was it doing till now?” asks a frequent flier. It has been alleged that the daughter of a senior DGCA official had a suspect licence.
Don't worry, be happy
We have not lowered our standards on pilot recruitments, the airlines are saying. Air India says it has “a zero tolerance policy vis-à-vis safety,” pointing out that soon after the watchdog found “some discrepancies” in the records of two pilots, it suspended one and took the other off flying duty.
Jet Airways says: “For all pilot training courses conducted by the airline and by other contractual service providers on behalf of the airline, DGCA will now be directly informed by the training institute that the pilot has completed the training in accordance with the procedures laid down and to the required standard.”
Kingfisher Airlines says it follows a four-step hiring process that includes a written test and a psychometric analysis designed by European Pilot Selection and Training, apart from a thorough scrutiny of mark sheets and certificates.
But despite the damage control efforts by airlines and authorities, the news reports have frightened passengers. It is not known what the cabin crews are saying.
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