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Pakistan Probe Reveals 30% Pilots Have Fake Licenses

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has begun grounding scores of commercial pilots
   with immediate effect, a day after an official inquiry revealed that
   almost 30% of pilots in the country hold "dubious licenses" and "fake"
   education qualifications.
   Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan told lawmakers during the ongoing
   session of the parliament that there are 860 active pilots in the
   country working with domestic commercial airlines -- including the
   national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
   Khan said that 262 of the pilots "did not take the exam themselves" to
   get a pilots' license and instead paid someone else to appear on their
   behalf.
   Some of them "don't have even flying experience", he stressed while
   highlighting other massive irregularities such as nepotism that have
   plagued PIA, blaming them on previous governments.
   An official PIA announcement said Thursday that in the wake of findings
   of the government inquiry, it is indefinitely grounding nearly 150 of
   the company's 426 pilots pending further inquiries against them.
   "The 262 pilots in question are associated with PIA and other domestic
   as well as foreign companies'¦.PIA acknowledges that fake licenses is
   not just a PIA issue but spread across the entire Pakistani airline
   industry," it said.
   Khan revealed details about the number of pilots with dubious licenses
   on Wednesday, while sharing with lawmakers details of a preliminary
   investigation into the May 22 PIA plane crash in the southern city of
   Karachi that killed 97 people.

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