DGCA to check all commercial pilots? credentials

Alarmed after expose of two pilots who procured commercial licence using forged documents, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is now scrutinizing the records of all pilots.

Two pilots have already been arrested this month after it was found that they had used fake mark-sheets to get commercial licence.

DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan said criminal proceedings have been initiated against the Air India pilot who was found to have used forged documents in a scrutiny of credentials of pilots after another was arrested earlier this month.

Captain JK Verma was found to have used forged marks-sheet and has been immediately arrested.

Bhushan, emphasizing that the DGCA will ensure that all records are checked thoroughly, said only one pilot, Verma, was found to have used forged papers out of the 500 pilots checked so far.

The DGCA will be scrutinizing credentials of over 4,000 commercial pilots in the process.

Under the radar of suspicion are two pilots of Indigo and MDLR Airlines.

The first arrest was made on March 8 when Indigo pilot Parminder Kaur Gulati was apprehended by the Delhi Police?s crime branch for using fake marks-sheet to procure her commercial licence.

Gulati had come under probe after her wrong landing techniques on several occasions caused damage to the air-craft, the latest being on January 11 when she made a rough landing at Goa airport.