Samiran Saha
New Delhi
Photo: Shailendra Pandey
After a series of revelations about Indian pilots furnishing fake documents to get to command a commercial airliner, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is contemplating online Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) exams to prevent tampering with the exams or the results.
The online version of the exam is expected to start from July.
An ATPL is mandatory for any commercial pilot who wants to command a commercial airliner with multiple engines and above 5,700 kilograms in weight.
Instances of pilots commanding commercial aircraft on fake licences have created a stir in the aviation circles when in January, low-cost airline Indigo’s pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati was found to have landed a 60-tonne Airbus A320 aircraft on its nose wheel, which is the most delicate part in an aircraft, thus jeopardising the lives of passengers on board.
Civil Aviation Secretary and former Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) head Nasim Zaidi, while describing the incidents of fake licences as grave, said, “We need very strong verification of documents. Now the DGCA would conduct the exams online from July. We will scrutinise the school certificates as well to make sure there are no discrepancies.”
“The online tests would be more secure and tamperproof,” Zaidi said. The current DGCA EK Bharat Bhushan, while speaking to Tehelka, said, “We will now scrutinise all the relevant documents of around 4,500 commercial pilots flying for different airlines in the country. We will ensure such instances do not reoccur.”
Bhushan said, “The process, for conducting the test, has started and we should be able to hold the exams online by July this year (The exam is conducted once every four months).”
“The DGCA will also look into Commercial Pilots Licences (CPLs) and especially those granted by flying schools abroad,” Bhushan added.
A pilot requires an ATPL to ‘command’ an aircraft and is awarded after a pilot has flown as a co-pilot for 1,500-2,000 hours. After completion of the requisite hours, the pilots have to take an exam that comprises three subjects including aviation and meteorology, radio aids and air navigation. A pilot has to score above 70 percent in the written test and interview to get an ATPL.
According to former DGCA Kanu Gohain, “An online exam would rule out tampering or forging as is being suspected in the case of Kaur. What is required is to make the exam as safe as possible because an untrained pilot can cause irreversible damage to men and machine.”
Gohain feels the allegedly forged licence that Kaur furnished could have been made with the help of insiders.
Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a sector specialist, feels such incidents have happened in the past also but have, surprisingly, gone unnoticed.
“Ever since the sector started expanding in 2005-06, a shortage of pilots, especially commanders, led to such instances. One cannot rule out insiders helping pilots with forged documents,” Ranganathan added.
A co-pilot earns about Rs 12 lakh a year. The prime reason why some co-pilots resort to taking a short-cut for becoming a commander is the 100 percent salary hike that comes with the post.