Pakistan has outsourced pilot exams by seeking UK services on the issue of fake pilot licenses. An agreement has been reached between Pakistan Civil Aviation and British Civil Aviation while the federal cabinet has approved the framework agreement. According to the agreement, the examination fee is set at 90 pounds in the first year and 95 pounds in the second year. About 75 percent will be paid for the first time and 25 percent for the second time. In the third test, the pilot will pay the full fee himself.
The issue of a fake pilot’s license came to light on 22nd May 2020 after a plane the national airline crashed in Karachi in which 97 precious lives were lost and after the plane crash, the Ministry of Aviation Ghulam Sarwar announced that the pilots are responsible for the accidents because the licenses of many pilots are fake, but later the situation turned out to be the opposite.
On 2nd July, the PIA launched a crackdown on incompetent officers while the national airline was banned from flying abroad, during which incompetent officers were identified and action was immediately taken to remove them from office.
The PIA has expressed doubts about the licenses of 150 of its 426 pilots. Pakistan was ridiculed around the world our pilots with questionable academic credentials were recruited into Pakistan’s national airline by paying bribes.
The United States and the European Union’s air safety agency banned the airline after it was revealed that PIA pilots’ licenses were forged, and the United Arab Emirates pressed for verification of pilots’ licenses.
Twenty-seven countries, including Italy, Austria, Croatia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Finland, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, and Sweden, have suspended PIA flight operations. Pilots suspended.
As the operation progressed in the country, the FIA Corporate Crime Circle arrested five officers and a pilot of the Civil Aviation License Branch on the issue of fake captain’s licenses.
The licenses of 262 pilots were declared suspicious out of which 28 were confirmed to be fake. On the other hand, 141 pilots belonging to PIA, 9 pilots of Air Blue, 10 pilots of Sareen Airlines, and 17 pilots of Shaheen Airlines were found to have suspicious licenses. Nine pilots admitted fake degrees.
Several pilots were later given clean chits. Civil Aviation even said that the licenses of all the pilots were genuine. Where Pakistan lost nearly 100 lives in the tragic accident of PIA in Karachi, the same way the country had to face embarrassment in the case of pilots all over the world and the nation bore the financial loss worth trillions due to the ban on flight operations.
The Pakistani government’s decision to outsource examinations on fake pilot licenses is commendable aAnd the government should pay attention to the education and training of pilots so that the loss of precious lives, global embarrassment, and financial loss can be stopped.
