All For The Money: Captain SS Kang of the Northern India Flying Club, Patiala, counts the bribe spycam grab

A Tehelka sting operation nets 10 flying hours without the need to step into a cockpit, and a student pilot’s licence with a Rs 1 lakh bribe. More money can fetch you an undeserved commercial pilot’s papers. What does this mean for safety in our skies?

Kumar Baadal
New Delhi

Air safety is something that concerns all of us. Any lapse in pilot training is a danger. A Tehelka investigation has now revealed the shocking state of pilot training in this country. The investigation establishes that norms for obtaining a flying licence are so blatantly flouted that an unlimited number of flying hours can be logged entirely on paper, the theory papers and the medical requirements can be cleared without the actual candidate appearing for them.

A team of Tehelka reporters was able to obtain a student pilot’s licence (SPL) after clearing the medical check-up but without appearing for the requisite oral examination or the cockpit test. More shockingly, beginning the process that culminates in the commercial pilot’s licence (CPL), Tehelka was able to log in 10 flying hours without the candidate ever getting off the ground.

This clearly establishes that given additional resources the process would have logged the requisite 250 hours of flying required for a CPL. The CPL entitles the licence holder to immediately begin flying as a co-pilot. The investigations also established that the verification procedures can easily be circumvented and the licence can be issued to just about anyone.

Licenced to Kill: The papers issued for a bribe

Flying clubs in the country lie at the heart of this scandal. After initial rounds of flying clubs in north India, Tehelka zeroed in on Captain SS Kang, chief flying instructor, the Northern India Flying Club (NIFL), Patiala. The team met him on on November 21, 2003. For Rs 50,000, Kang got the SPL (see picture) issued after clearing an ‘oral’ test taken by him, logged the 10 non-existent flying hours and took another Rs 50,000 as advance for getting the CPL without the requisite flying hours through his contacts in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). When the Tehelka team queried him on the flying hours, Kang said there was no risk at all in over-logging and admitted that he had done so for many people earlier. Over the next few months, Tehelka’s interface with Kang was taped.

Kang told us that without waiting for the completion of flying hours, he could get a CPL issued by the DGCA. There will not be any problem, he said

He told Tehelka that we should meet him with the pilot aspirant, Abhishek Khanna, at NIFL. The aspirant, the reporters told Kang, was an Indian who had moved to Canada and wanted a CPL as he had an airline job offer if he furnished a CPL from the country of his origin. Kang was sure he could ‘manage’ to get him the CPL.

Kang explained that he would begin by getting us the SPL and then initiate the process for the CPL. For the SPL he could clear all the requirements at his end, and he would then begin logging in flying hours for the CPL. In addition, the candidate would have to appear in a written examination conducted by DGCA.