Indian Aviation News
Red tape, lack of transparency resulting in malpractices: Pilots
by Bipin Shah Self Employed
Bipin Shah 
Self Employed
The fake pilot license scam has its roots in the red-tapism and lack of transparency in the workings of the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), say industry experts.
Moreover, the time-consuming examination to get the commercial pilot license (CPL), and stodgy human interface in the absence of computerisation, is making frustrated students take a short cut and indulge in malpractices.
“While abroad a student needs 40% to get a CPL, in India the percentage is 70. Moreover, while DGCA conducts CPL exams every three months, there are weekly exams in foreign countries,” said the owner of a training school.
A student needs to complete 200 hours of flight training and clear four papers within a span of two years. If he has passed in say two papers but has been unable to clear the remaining within two years, he has the appear for all the papers again. “This is very time consuming and if a student has failed in one paper he has to wait for three months for the next exam,” he said.
According to the Airlines Pilot Association of India (ALPAI), which has over 2,000 pilots from Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher as its members, the problem can be solved with computerisation of exams conducted by DGCA. “There should be minimum human interface for issuing of licenses,” said Captain S Marwah, president of ALPAI. “In fact, submission of documents by candidates should also be online.”
Moreover, industry experts say there is a need to revamp the examination procedure. “While DGCA exams are easy, the evaluation is really tough, with the pass percentage in the region of five to 10%. There is no defined syllabus for DGCA exams and it is like appearing for the IAS exams in which a question is asked from any field. Abroad, the syllabus is defined and students get a list of say 400 questions one hour before the exam. Out of these, any 100 questions are asked in the online exam,” said a flying school owner.
When contacted, civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi, who mooted the idea of computerisation of the exam system during his tenure as DGCA chief, confirmed that this will happen soon. “Efforts are underway (to computerise) by July,” he told to DNA.
Mar 24th 2011 23:41
Self EmployedThe fake pilot license scam has its roots in the red-tapism and lack of transparency in the workings of the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), say industry experts.
Moreover, the time-consuming examination to get the commercial pilot license (CPL), and stodgy human interface in the absence of computerisation, is making frustrated students take a short cut and indulge in malpractices.
“While abroad a student needs 40% to get a CPL, in India the percentage is 70. Moreover, while DGCA conducts CPL exams every three months, there are weekly exams in foreign countries,” said the owner of a training school.
A student needs to complete 200 hours of flight training and clear four papers within a span of two years. If he has passed in say two papers but has been unable to clear the remaining within two years, he has the appear for all the papers again. “This is very time consuming and if a student has failed in one paper he has to wait for three months for the next exam,” he said.
According to the Airlines Pilot Association of India (ALPAI), which has over 2,000 pilots from Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher as its members, the problem can be solved with computerisation of exams conducted by DGCA. “There should be minimum human interface for issuing of licenses,” said Captain S Marwah, president of ALPAI. “In fact, submission of documents by candidates should also be online.”
Moreover, industry experts say there is a need to revamp the examination procedure. “While DGCA exams are easy, the evaluation is really tough, with the pass percentage in the region of five to 10%. There is no defined syllabus for DGCA exams and it is like appearing for the IAS exams in which a question is asked from any field. Abroad, the syllabus is defined and students get a list of say 400 questions one hour before the exam. Out of these, any 100 questions are asked in the online exam,” said a flying school owner.
When contacted, civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi, who mooted the idea of computerisation of the exam system during his tenure as DGCA chief, confirmed that this will happen soon. “Efforts are underway (to computerise) by July,” he told to DNA.
Mar 24th 2011 23:41
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