Who's flying your plane? Fake pilots busted in India

When you board a plane, you usually take it for granted that the person flying it is a fully qualified pilot.

So give a thought for passengers on a recent flight in India, whose two pilots have been found to have fake licences.

Investigators for India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) found two Indian nationals had forged their qualifying papers for a pilot's licence.

Both men were flying as captains on flights for the IndiGo and MDLR airlines, but they had not passed the tests to graduate from co-pilot, according to The Times of India.

They have since been suspended - but regulators in India see this as a growing concern.

There have already been cases of forged licenses in the country, including last month, when the DGCA revoked the licence of a third pilot, also flying for IndiGo, who was found to have forged papers to get her airline transport pilot licence.

The pilot's qualifications and record were scrutinised after she caused damage to an Airbus A320 aircraft by landing the plane on the nose wheel instead of the rear wheels.

DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan has ordered all pilots licenses to be verified quickly.

A senior commander told the Times of India : 'Having a fake commander in a flight is like having a quack heading the team of doctors performing an operation. What will such a person's knowledge or experience be? God save such fliers. This is as big a safety issue as can be.'

IndiGo said it would 'proactively assist the DGCA to carry out a thorough internal investigation to ensure that there are no discrepancies in any other licence or certificates issued to any pilots, engineers or cabin attendants'.

Passenger numbers in India have gone up by 25% over the last 12 months, after rising incomes and liberalisation of the airline market led to an increase in air travel in India.

Now, the low-cost Indian airlines are fiercely competing for locally trained pilots, which could be a factor in the new 'fake pilot-gate'.

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