Mumbai: The fake pilot
license scam has its roots in the red-tapism and lack of transparency in
the workings of the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), say
industry experts.
Moreover, the time-consuming examination to get the commercial pilot
license (CPL), and stodgy human interface in the absence of
computerisation, is making frustrated students take a short cut and
indulge in malpractices."While abroad a student needs 40% to get a CPL, in India the percentage
is 70. Moreover, while DGCA conducts CPL exams every three months, there
are weekly exams in foreign countries,” said the owner of a training
school.A student needs to complete 200 hours of flight training and clear four
papers within a span of two years. If he has passed in say two papers
but has been unable to clear the remaining within two years, he has the
appear for all the papers again. "This is very time consuming and if a
student has failed in one paper he has to wait for three months for the
next exam,” he said.According to the Airlines Pilot Association of India (ALPAI), which has
over 2,000 pilots from Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher as its
members, the problem can be solved with computerisation of exams
conducted by DGCA. "There should be minimum human interface for issuing
of licenses,” said Captain S Marwah, president of ALPAI. "In fact,
submission of documents by candidates should also be online.”
24/03/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis
