Mr Anupam Verma has a certificate that shows he has flown an aircraft
for 360 hours. He says he got it after sitting in the co-pilot's seat
for just 35 minutes.
He is one of dozens of pilots in India with certificates showing inflated flying hours and ground training, according to court documents and interviews with pilots, regulators and industry analysts.
The son of a poor farmer, Mr Verma was given a 2.8 million rupee (S$59,600) subsidy by the Indian government to learn to fly a commercial jet. "What if I was flying and had an emergency? I wouldn't even know how or where to land," Mr Verma said in an interview.
"We'd kill not only the passengers, but we might crash in a village and kill even more people."
When Mr Verma, 25, realised he was not going to gain the necessary flying experience, he successfully sued the flying school for return of the money he paid.
But not all would-be pilots are as scrupulous. Concern about the quality of India's pilots has been building over the past decade as a proliferation of budget airlines created demand for hundreds of new pilots.
In 2011, the government reviewed the licences of all 4,000-plus airline pilots in the country as police investigated at least 18 people suspected of using forged documents to win promotions or certification. The findings were not made public.
"The fudging of log books is rampant both in airlines and in flying clubs," said Mr Mohan Ranganathan, a former commercial pilot and aviation safety consultant based in Chennai. He said the 2011 audit found violations in most flying clubs in the country. "Hours were logged with aircraft not even in airworthy condition. One aircraft had no engines, but several hundred hours were logged."
Read news in full 03/06/15 Bloomberg/Straits Times
He is one of dozens of pilots in India with certificates showing inflated flying hours and ground training, according to court documents and interviews with pilots, regulators and industry analysts.
The son of a poor farmer, Mr Verma was given a 2.8 million rupee (S$59,600) subsidy by the Indian government to learn to fly a commercial jet. "What if I was flying and had an emergency? I wouldn't even know how or where to land," Mr Verma said in an interview.
"We'd kill not only the passengers, but we might crash in a village and kill even more people."
When Mr Verma, 25, realised he was not going to gain the necessary flying experience, he successfully sued the flying school for return of the money he paid.
But not all would-be pilots are as scrupulous. Concern about the quality of India's pilots has been building over the past decade as a proliferation of budget airlines created demand for hundreds of new pilots.
In 2011, the government reviewed the licences of all 4,000-plus airline pilots in the country as police investigated at least 18 people suspected of using forged documents to win promotions or certification. The findings were not made public.
"The fudging of log books is rampant both in airlines and in flying clubs," said Mr Mohan Ranganathan, a former commercial pilot and aviation safety consultant based in Chennai. He said the 2011 audit found violations in most flying clubs in the country. "Hours were logged with aircraft not even in airworthy condition. One aircraft had no engines, but several hundred hours were logged."
Read news in full 03/06/15 Bloomberg/Straits Times
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