Fake pilot license scam triggers worry at Srinagar Airport

Srinagar: Is your plane in safe hands? Does the pilot have an authentic license to fly it? These are among the volley of questions that the commercial airlines at the Srinagar ‘International’ Airport have to face from the flyers before they board the planes. And those who pose the questions are mostly politicians, bureaucrats and frequent flyers.
According to airline officials, the fake pilot license scam, which the Civil Aviation Ministry is probing, has triggered safety concerns at the Airport here too, primarily in the wake of “sensitivity of the aerodrome.”
“The flyers have all of a sudden turned conscious about their safety. We would never face questions on flying safety, but today almost every flyer inquires about names of pilots, their experience and licenses,” said station manager of a commercial airline, insisting not to be named. “We saw many flyers noting down these details, which would ideally never be a case.”
The fake pilot license scam is making headlines in almost all newspapers in India these days, with people expressing concern over the safety standards.
Sources at the Srinagar Airport disclosed to Greater Kashmir a couple of central ministers, who visited the Valley recently, also inquired about the pilots and the safety standards.
According to observers, the Airport is not an ordinary aerodrome. “Srinagar Airport is a very sensitive. Here the landing process happens to be quite peculiar given the topography of the place. Also there is a factor of weather, when mostly the flights land in low-visibility conditions. So all this calls for operation of flights by highly qualified pilots,” said a former Civil Aviation Department official, wishing anonymity.
28/03/11 faheem Aslam/Greater Kashmir

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Categories: Airports Mar 2011