Flying schools meeting on Tuesday

Following the fake pilot scam, a meeting of all flying schools has been called by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 29 to discuss the matter and device ways to ensure fool-proof procedures for commercial pilot licence.

Director General, DGCA, Bharat Bhusan told reporters that Tuesday?s meet with put together an action plan to tackle the problem of fudging of documents to obtain licenses.

He said DGCA is going to appoint a third party to scrutinize aviation academies, which needed complete scrutiny.

?The DGCA has decided not to take the licenses issues by international schools on the face value,? he added.

Earlier on Saturday, an official of the DGCA, along with three others, were arrested as the police delve deeper into the ?fake pilot scam?.

DGCA Assistant Director of licensing Pradeep Kumar, is the latest to be taken in over the racket which was coughed up dozens of pilots with aviation licenses procured through forged documents.

Delhi police said they have also arrested a pilot called, Pradeep Tyagi and two more people, bringing the total arrests to 10.

At least 14 pilots and several flying school instructors have already been grounded by the DGCA for obtaining commercial aviation licenses by filing fake documents and records, according to media reports.

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.

Alarmed after expose of pilots procuring commercial licence using forged documents, the DGCA had earlier said it is now scrutinizing the records of all pilots.