Dubious pilots licenses: Global disgrace or time for reform?

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is once again in hot water after almost a third of its pilots were suspected of holding fake or dubious licenses and dodging exams following inquiries into their qualifications.

Pilots’ license scandal

Pakistan’s investigations into pilots’ qualifications initiated after a 2018 crash landing and found that the test date on the license of the pilot involved had been a holiday – suggesting it was fake as testing could not have taken place on that day. As a result, 16 PIA pilots were grounded in early 2019.

Recent license scandal

The recent license scandal surfaced in the wake of a PIA plane crash near Karachi airport that killed 97 people on board. The crash prompted a preliminary report, which found that the pilots had failed to pursue standard procedures and disregarded alarms.

Later, Pakistani Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said officials had been investigating collusion between pilots and civil aviation officials since late 2018 to circumvent examinations.

He said all the pilots were accused of having someone sit one or more exam papers for them, and occasionally even all the eight papers required for an airline pilot’s license.

262 grounded pilots awaiting the conclusion of inquiries

The 262 grounded pilots awaiting the conclusion of inquiries against them included 141 from PIA, nine from Air Blue, 10 from Serene Airline, and 17 from Shaheen Airlines, Pakistani Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced earlier. They included 109 commercial and 153 airline transport pilots.

Later, details of the government’s review of the pilots’ qualifications were made public, indicating 262 of Pakistan’s 860 pilots have fake flying licenses. The PIA then stated it would ground all pilots with the “dubious” licenses.

“We will restructure the airline, and a clean-up process will be completed by this year,” the aviation minister said.

Doubt looms over the pilot list

Ghulam Sarwar said the list of pilots to be grounded had been sent to airlines and would also be available on the civil aviation website. The minister said all the airlines and clubs had been told that “these pilots shouldn’t be permitted to fly anymore.”

Call for a transparent investigation

The Pakistan Air Line Pilots Association has challenged the authenticity of the list and asked the judiciary to probe the issue, citing distrust in a transparent government investigation.

Pilots Association said doubts about the list and the way the government is dealing with it, calling for an independent judicial commission to investigate the matter.

Several pilots who had been grounded over allegations of a fake license said the civil aviation authority has the right to issue the license after exams, but the list prepared by the government is full of blunders and was prepared in haste without knowing the consequences.

The global reputation of Pakistani pilots

The hasty sharing of the list is not a good decision from the government. This is a serious matter and it should be investigated as 40 percent of our total pilots are dubious now.

The move has flecked the image of Pakistani pilots across the globe, as Turkish Airlines’ decision to ground 16 Pakistani pilots because one of them was named on the list issued by Pakistani authorities.

Vietnam’s aviation authority had also announced it had grounded all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines, adding that the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is coordinating with Pakistani authorities to review the pilots’ profiles.

Air transport bodies had expressed concerns over such a large number of pilots having dubious credentials and said they are seeking more information on the matter.

“We are following reports from Pakistan regarding fake pilot licenses, which are concerning and represent a serious lapse in the licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator,” said a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Financial woes -frequent mismanagement

Successive governments in the past have tried to privatize and overhaul the loss-making carrier however, failed due to political pressure. PIA, which has a fleet of 31 aircraft and 434 pilots, plunged into further financial woes as a result of frequent cancellations and mismanagement.

Global disgrace or reform?

Aviation experts are divided over the licensing scandal. Aviation minister said the grounding of the pilots was aimed at making the Pakistani airline industry trustworthy and that it would also dismiss international concerns surrounding PIA.

The institution has reached the point of moral bankruptcy, not financial. Pakistan now has a choice to make whether to keep or change its reputation for crashes. However, reforms are a good idea and that the organization needs to be set through proposed reforms.

Losing people’s lives is far worse than losing a temporary image before institutional reforms. There is a lack of induction, lack of training and lack of oversight in the PIA.

Although, the purge as a worldwide humiliation for Pakistan’s aviation industry and doubt the promised reforms. This is the sweeping statement from the authorities and the list of grounded pilots issued by the officials is suspicious.

It has numerous mistakes and it will lead to a great tragedy for the PIA. People will not even think of boarding the PIA with fake license pilots flying the planes. For this, the minister should be held responsible for his hasty and irresponsible decision.

Global concern

The development has sparked global concern, raising questions over how the Pakistani pilots acquired licenses from Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and worked for international airlines across the world.

The revelation continued to take its toll as the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority said it was withdrawing the Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) permit to operate from three of its airports and the United Arab Emirates sought to verify the credentials of its Pakistani pilots and engineers.

A transparent investigation is “need of the hour” 

The government needs to conduct a thorough investigation and take the nation into confidence by sharing the facts about the issue.

Once this has done, the nation needs accountability and someone should be held responsible. We have the right to ask for action and demand reformation of the national airlines.