Pakistan flag carrier to ground a third of pilots over 'dubious' licenses

[727Sky]

Pakistan flag carrier to ground a third of pilots over 'dubious' licences
By Syed Raza Hassan and Asif Shahzad
 

FILE PHOTO: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane prepares to take off from the Benazir International airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood
 
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will ground a third of its 434 pilots on suspicion they hold "dubious" licences and flying certificates, a company spokesman said on Thursday.
 
The decision comes as an inquiry into a PIA crash last month, in which 97 people were killed, points to pilots not following procedures, while a government minister said the cockpit voice recorder suggested the pilots were distracted by a conversation about the novel coronavirus.
 
"We've been told that an investigation conducted by the civil aviation authority has found that about 150 of our pilots have dubious licenses," company spokesman Abdullah H. Khan told Reuters.
 
All of the pilots under investigation would be grounded, he said. The PIA has a fleet of 31 aircraft that fly domestic and international routes.
 
Successive governments have tried to overhaul loss-making PIA over the years but with little sign of success.
 
The airline's latest accident came late last month when an Airbus A320 on a domestic flight came down short of the runway in the southern city of Karachi, killing all but two of those aboard.
 
The aviation minister told parliament this week the plane's pilots and air traffic control officers had not followed procedures and the two pilots had been pre-occupied by a discussion of the coronavirus shortly before the crash.
 
The investigation into pilots' qualifications came after a 2018 crash when it was found that the test date on the license of the pilot involved had been a holiday - suggesting it was fake as testing could not have taken place on that day.
 
Another pilot had been out of the country on the date stamped on his flying certificate, Khan said. 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1170015...-licences/

Back in 1978 (?) I was flying a Lear and a King Aire in and out of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Saudia actually had a good accident record and training department as many of the pilots were Expats.  However a Saudi L-1011 had some idiot light a stove in the back which started a fire while the aircraft was landing. They found something like 20 bodies in the cockpit who had been trying to avoid the fire. The crew had killed the electric so the automatic doors would not open. The cockpit has two ropes you can go out the side sliding windows but the crew were to stupid to use them; all Saudi crew members. 
 
The training department for every/any Airline should have detected the idiots with the fake licenses at PIA. In the states a written test with 80% passing grade or you do over, fail again you are fired. Flight Checks maybe one do over but if you fail you are fired if you can not preform. We fired a Naval trained carrier pilot because he could not land a MD-80 unless it was a controlled crash... That was really a weird deal but I think the guy was mental. Either way no room for a pilot who can not fly and land the darn plane.
 
At least that is the way it used to be done.... Maybe now they just give participation ribbons to anyone who shows up ??