262 pilots under investigation for “dubious’ credentials to be grounded

The Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced on Friday that there are about 262 airline pilots who may have falsified and they are to be immediately grounded until an investigation is done.
The pilot he talked about include 141 pilots from Pakistan International Airlines, 9 from Air Blue, and 10 from Serene Air adding that the remaining are affiliated with flying clubs, chartered planes, or foreign airlines.
The minister said that the airlines and clubs have been told that their pilots may have suspicious credentials and they shouldn’t be allowed to flying adding that the names of the pilots have been posted on the Civil Aviation Authority’s website.
The Aviation Minister said, “These pilots against whom inquiries are being conducted we all recruited before 2018.” referencing to start of the incumbent government’s tenures. Adding “Let me also make it clear that after 2018 we did not make any new occupants in PIA or the aviation division or taken any exams meaning that whatever it is it is from the last two terms.”
He also said “This government has now set out to fix all past mistakes. Not only will the pilots be grounded as he has also decided to suspend five Civil Aviation Authority officials who were involved in this scandal.”
He said, “I have their suspension letters ready and we are also consulting the legal team to initiate criminal proceedings against them.” He added that there were three or four other private people who were not affiliated in the CAA but have been found involved in this scandal and a criminal investigation will be starting against them.
The issue of falsified licenses got global attention after the aviation minister announced that around 150 pilots have fake licenses.
He said, “There are 860 pilots in the country, and out of those there are 262 pilots that have not taken exams themselves.”
A day earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) had summoned the director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to explain accusation of fake licenses by some pilots of different airlines of the country with whom they have flown passenger aircraft and thus put people life at stake which is a serious offense under the law.
The CAA director-general is required to provide a comprehensive report to the Supreme court within two weeks regarding the issue and when a case will be taken up again after three weeks as the chief executive officer of the PIA, AirBlue and Serene will be appearing before the court with reports about the professional qualification of pilots in the respective airlines.
This also affected the integrity of CAA AND PIA when the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed concern over the serious indiscretion in-licensing and safety oversight by the aviation authority.

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