Pakistan grounds 262 pilots under suspicion of license fraud
Pakistan is grounding 262 airline pilots who are under suspicion of dodging their exams, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced on June 26.
The inquiries to their qualifications were prompted by the initial investigation that determined people error to be mainly in charge of a PIA plane crash that killed 98 persons in Karachi on, may 22.
Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said authorities have been investigating collusion between pilots and civil aviation officials since late 2018 to get around examinations.
He said all of the pilots were accused of experiencing someone sit a number of papers for them, and sometimes even all of the eight papers required for an airline pilot's license.
The 262 pilots grounded on June 26 pending conclusion of inquiries against them included 141 from PIA, nine from Air Blue, 10 from Serene Airline, and 17 from Shaheen Airlines, which has closed down, Khan said.
They included 109 commercial and 153 airline transport pilots, Khan added.
PIA and Air Blue said they might comply but had not received the set of pilots to get grounded.
"We are still waiting for the list," Raheel Ahmed, Deputy Managing Director (Business), Air Blue explained. A PIA spokesman as well said no lists had been received.
The minister said the lists had been delivered to airlines and would also be available on the civil aviation website.
The remaining pilots belonged to flying clubs or charter services. He said all of the airlines and clubs have been informed that "these pilots must not be allowed to fly any more".
Khan said the purge was targeted at making the Pakistani airline industry credible, which will also allay the global concerns, adding, "I believe this will help us in satisfying the international organisations that we have corrected the wrongdoings."
The International Air Transport Association and europe Aviation Safety Organization have expressed concerns over such a sizable number of pilots having dubious credentials.
The move comes per month after one of its planes crashed into homes killing 98 people.
The existing examination system was introduced in 2012 to meet up international standards and was made mandatory for all Pakistani pilots regardless if these were already qualified.
Pilots who will dsicover it difficult to move the tests had resorted to illegal means, bribing someone in the civil aviation human body or working with political influence to have someone to sit their papers, officials said.
Pakistan's investigations into pilots' qualifications started out after a good 2018 crash landing where it was discovered that the check date on the license of the pilot involved have been any occasion - suggesting it had been fake as testing could not have taken put on that day.
That resulted in 16 PIA pilots appearing grounded in early 2019.
Successive governments have attempted to overhaul the loss-making carrier which has a fleet of 31 aircraft and 434 pilots, but with little sign of success.
