Logbook blew lid off pilot licence scam

Flying hours were jotted down on the register even on the day the training flight was grounded

Logbook blew lid off pilot licence scam

Flying hours were jotted down on the register even on the day the training flight was grounded

While browsing through a logbook at a Rajasthan government-run aviation school, the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Rajasthan Police noticed that flying hours of the pilots were manipulated in the register to help them secure licences.

The logbook proved to be useful as it showed that pilots had faked their flying hours

Speaking exclusively to MiD DAY, the officials revealed the logbook blew the lid off the fake pilot licence scam.
Nine pilots have been arrested in this case so far and there is one common link between all of them the logbook.

The cops smelt a rat when they noticed the pilots' flying hours were registered even on the day the training aircraft was grounded.

"When we started investigations, we found that the flying school had made entry of flying hours with Cessna 152, when the training aircraft was actually grounded," said Umesh Mishra, IG Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Rajasthan Flying School has a single engine trainer aircraft, Cessna 152, which was grounded long ago.
Air India pilot Rahul Yadav was the first person arrested in this case.

During interrogation it was found that Yadav had made cross-country flying entries while the aircraft was grounded.

"There were several entries made for cross-country flying from Rajasthan to Hisar in Yadav's flying licence.

We matched the entries in the flying school with the entries of Air Traffic Control logbook only to find that Yadav was faking his flying hours as the trainer flight was grounded that day," said Mishra, adding that the same discrepancy was reflected in other cases too.

DGCA links

The scam has also pointed a finger at the functioning of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as two of
the accused pilots, Rahul Yadav from Air India and Garima Passi from Spicejet, have their fathers working with the DGCA.

While Yadav's father is junior level officer, Passi's father R S Passi is the director of Air Safety with DGCA. "All these people will be subjected to a scrutiny," said DGCA chief, E K Bharatbhushan.

However, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a member of Safety Advisory Committee of Civil Aviation Ministry, said, "All DGCA officials whose sons and daughters have got their licences should be subjected to an interrogation that would bring forth whether they played any mischief in providing their wards' licences."

There are 40 flying schools situated in different cities and an expert committee of the DGCA will audit all
these institutes in the next three months.