Shocking findings after 98 fatal crashes: pilots bought licenses en masse, uncontrolled chaos prevailed

Six Pakistani pilots interviewed Al Jazeera on the condition that their identities not be revealed for fear of retaliation by employers or the regulator.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country’s largest airline and the only major international airline, received perhaps most of the complaints about aviation security breaches and dismissed all charges.

Focus Pakistan’s commercial aviation sector has grown after the country’s aviation minister said that nearly a third of Pakistan’s pilots fraudulently obtained their licenses. The minister’s accusations were made several months after a PIA plane crash in the southern city of Karachi, which killed 98 people.

The names of three of the six pilots Al Jazeera reporters spoke to are allegedly fraudulent on the list of licensed pilots, but deny that they committed misconduct.

Following accusations by the aviation minister, the state PIA temporarily banned the flight of 102 pilots and launched an internal investigation. Several other pilots of Pakistan’s two airlines (SereneAir and Airblue) have also been suspended.

Plane crash and its consequences.

May 22 The PIA-owned Airbus A320 crashed in a residential area of ​​Karachi in the south of the country. According to official figures, 97 of the 99 people who flew in it and a passerby were killed.

In a preliminary investigation into the accident, Pakistan’s aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the disaster appeared to be due to “human error”. It also reported that a separate and ongoing government investigation revealed that 262 of the country’s 860 licensed pilots had obtained the right to fraudulently operate the plane. A list of rebel pilots was compiled and sent to the airlines. At least 28 pilots have lost their licenses, others are still under investigation, according to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAI).

Pilot unions criticized the aviation minister’s report, arguing that the list provided by the government contained errors such as the names of deceased pilots, pilots mistaken for similar names, and some pilots assigned to airlines they had never worked on, or written that they passed the exams. , who never really considered.

One of the main criteria for listing, the alleged commercial flight on test day, was also discussed, and was not accepted by the six pilots interviewed by Al Jazeera. According to the men, taking the exam in the morning and then taking the flight later that day is “normal” regulatory compliance.

There are no clear rules in Pakistan’s aviation regulations to take an exam and run a regular flight the same day, only pilots must be “well rested” before the flight.

Within days of the list’s release, civil aviation regulators in at least 10 countries and territories, including the United Arab Emirates (Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Turkey, and Hong Kong) Kong, they no longer allowed Pakistani pilots to operate planes and asked for PCAI approval. Your Ratings According to the PCAI, at least 166 of the 176 applications were granted.

Aviation security authorities in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (United Kingdom) have banned PIAs from flying to these areas, and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (US) has downgraded PIAs and restricted permit for repatriation flights to and from the US revoked.

The Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (POLPA), the country’s leading organization representing pilots, has been contesting the accuracy of the list from the start, claiming that no one cheated and that the list was drawn primarily on the base of administrative errors.

On the other hand, several Al Jazeera pilots have revealed a long-standing “maintenance for money” scheme to the civil aviation regulator.

Easier to cheat

“I’m a witness. I don’t even have to imagine anything, I experienced everything with my own fur,” said Pilot A, who was on the list of pilots who allegedly cheated. “It’s a well-known thing in the industry: You can study and take tests or pay to get someone else’s support. “

A pilot said that his colleagues offered him money to help him obtain a pilot license, mediated by PCAI officials in 2009. He took a written commercial pilot exam. According to Pilot A, when he and the other three candidates reported the fraud to senior PCAI officials, there was no way they could pass the final commercial pilot exam until they “apologized”: “Everyone [apie sukčiavimą pranešusios grupės nariai]who apologized [PCAI pareigūno], passed the exam next time. “

Pilot B, a senior pilot school instructor who later joined the PIA as a commercial pilot, said fraud during testing was not very common, but the possibility was well known.
“It just came to our attention then [sukčiauti], which to be honest, he assured. – There are a total of 40 thousand. possible problems you can learn and try to stay alone or pay and [iš ko nors] get answers. “

2011 The PCAI changed the examination procedure and increased the number of exams from three to eight, in accordance with the requirements of the European Joint Aviation Authority (JHA), and began developing specific computer tests for the pilot.

The pilots they interviewed said the form of fraud also changed at that time: Corrupt PCAI officials could be paid and not take exams at all.

“[PCAI darbuotojai] inserted [duomenis], performed a test and recorded an evaluation for another person, revealed Pilot C. – You pay 100,000. rupees ($ 600), and the officer takes the exam for you on a day off … They got rich as needed. “

Other pilots indicated the amount of the fee to pass the exam among 40 thousand. and 100 thousand. rupees ($ 240-600).

To obtain a commercial pilot license, candidates must also complete more than one training flight on a real plane and in a simulator. In addition, they repeat these tests regularly to maintain the validity of the license.

Pilots informed Al Jazeera that instructors and PCAI officials did not “normally” divide pilots into an annual or biennial mandatory registration simulator and a real-time aircraft due to pressure from the regulator, other countries or relationships previous.

“This practice was widespread, i. And. They just told you to sign a license [nepatikrinus įgūdžių ir žinių], – Pilot B spoke about the period he worked as an instructor. “It was downright amazing for me.”

Pilot B said he faced disciplinary action if he disagreed with the pilots’ regulatory authority’s positive assessment, citing an example: a pilot with very few hours of flight required: “When I refused to approve his license, my job was audited and imprisoned. counterfeit airplane logbook entries

A pilot once recalled that a PCAI officer pressured a foreign instructor to credit the results of a simulator test conducted in Indonesia. „2018 that pilot 11 times [iš eilės] he crashed the plane into a simulator, simulating engine failure, but it still happened, “Pilot A said.

Adjust the pump

Pakistan’s aircraft safety record is far from perfect: There have been five serious commercial or charter crashes in the past decade, totaling 445 lives.

According to official reports and pilots’ testimonies, several non-fatal safety incidents also occurred during the same period, including in-flight or take-off engines, a detangled landing gear, aircraft that did not hit the runway, and ground collisions. .

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), there were 14.48 accidents per million takeoffs in the Pakistani aviation industry in 2019, well above the world average (3.02).

Chaos reigned

The pilots said PIA and other airlines have urged not to complete Aviation Security Reports (ASA). ASA is the primary way to report safety incidents in flight. “No one in Pakistan knows how to react to ASA and other security reports,” said Pilot C. – If there is an ASA, it could be in trouble. Then the ASA will not be filled, and that’s it. “

David Greenberg, an international aviation consultant, called the lax approach to safety reporting, poor regulation, and conflicting safety protocols a “recipe for disaster.”

In a statement to Al Jazeera, the PIA denied any violation of security protocols.
“That hint alone is absurd,” said airline spokesman Abdullah Khan. “Yes, management wants to restructure an organization that has faced a number of challenges, but security is always a priority.”

It is true that pilots who have worked or continue to work for other airlines have argued that safety concerns are not unique to PIA.

Pilot A spoke of an incident on a plane owned by another airline in 2018. On a flight to the Pakistani capital Islamabad: The captain of the plane did not seek advice from Pilot A’s first assistant on adverse weather conditions to direct the plane to Lahore.

“We felt turbulence, the plane was shaking, there was chaos in the cockpit near runway 12,” said pilot A. “The captain just froze on the board and started praying.”

After another dispute with the captain, about 11 kilometers before runway A, the pilot was forced to take control of the plane and landed safely in Islamabad. No safety report was completed after the incident, and the pilot-in-command received no disciplinary action.