Neha Jain: http://indianairlinesnews.blogspot.com/22

1. Cabinet to move soon on setting up Civil Aviation Authority news

The process of setting up a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), an administratively and financially autonomous body, which will regulate all civil aviation safety issues in India, is now in the final stages and a cabinet note on it is likely to be soon formalised.

The CAA may be tasked with keeping a tab on the entire range of civil aviation activities -from supervising air traffic services and licensing to auditing the financial fitness of airlines.

According to the director general of civil aviation, EK Bharat Bhushan, a cabinet note is being prepared based on all the facts prepared by his organisation.

Government will have to bring in appropriate legislation to establish the CAA.
According to the DGCA, the CAA would have a lot of financial, administrative and procedural independence and will also be able to recruit professionals directly instead of having it routed through the Union Public Service Commission as is the current practice.

A feasibility study to set up such an authority was commissioned in October 2009, in cooperation with UN body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to improve discharge of safety oversight functions.

2. 2 more pilots arrested for faking it
Amit Mundra and Ajay Chaudhary were arrested in Jaipur today for forging documents to qualify as pilots. Two other pilots have been arrested in recent weeks for similar charges, forcing India to confront the fact that they're placing their lives in the hands of people who really may not know what they're doing.

The men arrested today both worked with Spice Jet, and had faked 200 hours each required to operate commercial flights.

In the last few weeks, India has been left winded with what seems to be a rapidly-expanding roster of imposter pilots, all of who have been operating flights. Thirteen other pilots have been shortlisted for possibly lying about their qualifications. The records of another 4000 pilots are now under scrutiny.

"There was a conspiracy between these pilots and the Rajasthan Flying School. They fudged records to help pilots who had not completed the Minimum Flying Hours to become eligible for Commercial Pilot Licences," said Ajit Singh, Additional Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Rajasthan.

Investigators with the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau say all 17 'fake pilots' provided testimonial paperwork from the Flying School in Jaipur and the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation. Some of them are still flying - pending inquiries by the airlines they work for. Feel your stomach dropping?
Claims that he is in fact the victim and was cheated by the Rajasthan Flying School. "We were too young to realise that we should take receipts for all payments. We gave money to the Instructor of our flying school, but he didn't pass the money on to the government. We have a receipt only for the Rs. 1 lakh that we first paid. After that had we asked for receipts, they would not have allowed us to fly," he says.

To get a commercial licence as a co-pilot, a candidate must have passed class 12 with Physics and Maths, passed the flying exams of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and have clocked at least 250 flying hours over five years.

To qualify as Captain, candidates need to have 1,500 flying hours as a co-pilot, and they must clear the DGCA's advanced flying exams.

So far, investigators have found that all sorts of documents have been forged - from marksheets for Class 12 exams for Maths and Physics, to certificates for flying hours, where flying instructors collude with candidates. While the flying club saves money, students sail through faster to the next round.

Even in examinations conducted by the DGCA, students who failed forged their marksheets and submitted these to the aviation body which did not corroborate the marks against its own records.

So if you're one of those nervous flyers, at least you haven't been worrying in vain.

3. 2 more pilots arrested, Indian officials investigated in growing scandal over fake documents
By Nirmala George, The Associated Press – 8 hours ago
NEW DELHI — Two more airline pilots with fake certificates have been arrested in a growing investigation of corruption in awarding aviation licenses, an official said Tuesday.
The two working for budget airline SpiceJet were arrested Monday in the western city of Jaipur for obtaining commercial pilot licenses by submitting forged flying certificates, said Umesh Mishra, an anti-corruption official.
Last week Indian aviation authorities ordered officials to check the documents of all Indian and foreign airline pilots working in the country after at least four were found to be flying using fake documents.
Two of the four pilots were arrested last week for using fake certificates to gain licenses, while the two others have been suspended and, along with some aviation officials, are still being investigated.
Aviation authorities also plan to examine the training and licensing procedures of all flying schools in the country, said Bharat Bhushan, director general of civil aviation.
Authorities were also concerned about students who go abroad to train as pilots and return with fake or invalid licenses, Bhushan said Tuesday.
Another issue is whether flying schools were sticking to the rules laid down by aviation regulatory authorities and were logging genuine flying hours in the log books of students, he said.
Concerns have been raised in parliament in recent weeks about inexperienced or underqualified pilots flying aircraft and endangering the lives of thousands of travellers. Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of failing to check corruption in the process of granting pilot licenses.
In the last decade, air travel has boomed in India on the back of a growing economy, leading to the rise of a slew of private airlines. This has resulted in a shortage of experienced pilots and airlines have been struggling to hire them to meet the demand.

NEHA JAIN

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