Pakistan International Airlines Grounds Pilots Amid Fraud Scandal
Joe Cortez June 25, 2020
After a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed in May 2020, the carrier is grounding 150 pilots on suspicion of fraud. State officials say nearly 30 percent of the nation’s pilots had fake credentials after earning wings through friends taking exams on their behalf.
Pakistan International Airlines is grounding 150 pilots on suspicion they fraudulently earned their pilot’s licenses. The Associated Press reports the airline is working through its ranks after an investigation revealed a number of unqualified aviators.
Pilots May Not Have Taken Flight Classes or Tests
The inquiry comes after the crash of Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 on Friday, May 22, 2020. The Airbus A320 came down near the heavily populated city of Karachi, while attempting to land at Jinnah International Airport (KHI). 97 people were killed in the accident.
Although the pilots of the doomed flight were described as “medically fit and qualified to fly,” the investigation showed that the operators aborted their first landing attempt before ignoring tower warnings over the plane’s altitude. The crash happened during the second attempted landing, after the engines took damage from the first attempt.
After review, the nation’s aviation minister claimed around 30 percent of pilot’s licenses issued may be invalid. According to aviation chief Ghulam Sarqar Khan, as many as 262 of the 860 valid licenses issued in the nation could be “fake,” or obtained through illicit means. While neither the minister nor the airline described how these licenses were faked, they alleged that the pilots in question did not take the exams required to become certified pilots.
Pilot Issue Could be Part of Systemic Problem
Although the probe shed light on a major issue inside the Pakistani aviation industry, it may only be part of a bigger problem. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to the AP, company insiders claimed Pakistan International Airlines identified at least four pilots disqualified over alleged falsified exam results in 2018. The group in question were fired over the findings.
The crash happened prior to the Muslim festival of Eid, as PIA and other regional aviators were loosening restrictions from the novel Coronavirus outbreak. The aviation ministry will now contact pilots who they believe are holding bad pilot’s licenses. It’s unclear whether or not the pilots will have a second attempt to prove their flight knowledge.
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For anyone shocked by this news, if you saw that part of the world, you wouldn't be. I'm surprised anything in that part of the world works at all due to all the shoddy maintenance and just general 'lack of care'. It also doesn't help that poverty and other social issues feed corruption and other problems. It's a total mess and this is only one repercussion from it.
Are the mechanics qualified too? a friend told me never to fly with them.
I wonder how they got to that figure and how many of the engineers maintaining the fleet are similarly unqualified As a Brit I would have hoped that our CAA would have taken note and banned PIA from flying in British airspace
I am not surprised! Anyone is? That country has a corruption rate that beats 99.9 % of the world. That I have not to date, flown this airline, means a Greater authority is looking after me. For the rest of you, the Greater authority is giving you a second chance to repent.
The question then becomes "How did they manage to do their day-to-day jobs, how did they manage to pass their simulator checks, if they didn't actually learn the material?" Many, many years ago, I took (and passed) the Private Pilot written test. There is a LOT of stuff that a pilot needs to know, and remember, and do, and deal with. I expect that Instrument and Commercial are just as tough, and ATP is a whole 'nother can of worms.