Chennai: The directorate-general of civil aviation has revoked a woman pilot’s licence alleging she used forged papers to get her airline transport pilot licence (ATPL), mandatory for aircraft captain.
On January 11, Indigo pilot Captain Parminder Kaur Gulati made a rough landing at Goa airport. When the plane flew back to Delhi, its nose wheel developed a snag. Investigations found fault with Gulati’s landing technique. She used the nose wheel to touch down instead of using the rear landing gear. She was grounded. Further investigations showed she had used the wrong technique several times.
“We have revoked her licence. The pilot seems to have obtained an ATPL by submitting forged documents. We are going to file a police complaint,’’ director-general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan told TOI.
The DGCA is probing how she got her ATPL after having failed the examination seven times.
Pilots aspiring to become captains must log 1,500 flying hours, pass an examination that comprises three papers: navigation, metrology and radio aids. While metrology is an oral test, the other two have written and oral components.
Pilots have to submit the log of flying hours, medical certificate and other documents to apply for ATPL, a tough examination conducted by DGCA once in three months. Bharat Bhushan said the airline could not be faulted for employing the pilot since she had an ATPL licence.
Asked what the airline was planning to do to prevent such incidents, Indigo Airlines president Aditya Ghosh said, “As an airline we completely rely on DGCA. We will follow any instruction from the regulator.’’
Sources said touts in Delhi often help pilots speed up the process of getting a licence. “We are not sure if they still function, as DGCA has started to monitor the ATPL paperwork,’’ an official said. The regulatory authority is now checking if any agent helped Kaur get the licence.
A senior pilot said it was puzzling how Kaur managed to land on the nose wheel.
“We have revoked her licence. The pilot seems to have obtained an ATPL by submitting forged documents. We are going to file a police complaint,’’ director-general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan told TOI.
The DGCA is probing how she got her ATPL after having failed the examination seven times.
Pilots aspiring to become captains must log 1,500 flying hours, pass an examination that comprises three papers: navigation, metrology and radio aids. While metrology is an oral test, the other two have written and oral components.
Pilots have to submit the log of flying hours, medical certificate and other documents to apply for ATPL, a tough examination conducted by DGCA once in three months. Bharat Bhushan said the airline could not be faulted for employing the pilot since she had an ATPL licence.
Asked what the airline was planning to do to prevent such incidents, Indigo Airlines president Aditya Ghosh said, “As an airline we completely rely on DGCA. We will follow any instruction from the regulator.’’
Sources said touts in Delhi often help pilots speed up the process of getting a licence. “We are not sure if they still function, as DGCA has started to monitor the ATPL paperwork,’’ an official said. The regulatory authority is now checking if any agent helped Kaur get the licence.
A senior pilot said it was puzzling how Kaur managed to land on the nose wheel.
No comments:
Post a Comment