New Delhi: It appears the aircraft landing on a busy highway in Betul in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday was not the only shocker. It has now emerged that its NRI owner, businessman Sam Verma, did not have the licence to fly the plane as well.
According to a report published in a leading English daily, the industrialist's Indian private pilot licence had expired in 2001 but that did not stop him from allegedly flying the plane for many times in the past. He did not even bother to inform the air traffic control, claimed the report.
The newspaper quotes DGCA's deputy director (airworthiness) RB Soni who wrote in a letter to Madhya Pradesh's principal secretary (aviation) on June 24, 2013, "Private pilot licence of Sam Verma was valid till October 12, 2001. He has been flying (Piper Navajo aircraft, VT-ERX) without valid licence... He (Verma) flies from Betul to Rewa, Satna and various other uncontrolled airfields. Air traffic control (ATC) Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur and regional executive director, Airports Authority of India, Mumbai have also been intimated in this regard. Nowadays he is flying the aircraft between uncontrolled airfields without concurrence/ intimation to ATC."
02/01/14 India Today
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According to a report published in a leading English daily, the industrialist's Indian private pilot licence had expired in 2001 but that did not stop him from allegedly flying the plane for many times in the past. He did not even bother to inform the air traffic control, claimed the report.
The newspaper quotes DGCA's deputy director (airworthiness) RB Soni who wrote in a letter to Madhya Pradesh's principal secretary (aviation) on June 24, 2013, "Private pilot licence of Sam Verma was valid till October 12, 2001. He has been flying (Piper Navajo aircraft, VT-ERX) without valid licence... He (Verma) flies from Betul to Rewa, Satna and various other uncontrolled airfields. Air traffic control (ATC) Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur and regional executive director, Airports Authority of India, Mumbai have also been intimated in this regard. Nowadays he is flying the aircraft between uncontrolled airfields without concurrence/ intimation to ATC."
02/01/14 India Today
