CAA accused of violating code

KARACHI: The requirements listed in recent advertisement for the recruitment of flight inspectors by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are a violation of Supreme Court judgments and federal government ESTA Code, as they mention requirements of 63 years of age and a BSc degree for induction, Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Palpa President Amir Hashmi said, “Such inductions are without the approval of Prime Minister therefore they are illegal.” The experience requirements have been designed to ensure that only pilots over 60 years of age become eligible.
He added that the previous two advertisements to fill in the positions of Director Flight Standards and Flight Inspectors were scrapped even when the induction process was completed.
There are more than 200,000 pilots in airline industry and not even one percent holds a B.Sc degree, since airline Pilots’ job comes under professional category including that of doctors and engineers as their basic academic degree is F.Sc, but in most of the countries Airline Transport Pilots License (ATPL) is equivalent to masters.
However, in this particular advertisement, the requirement is intentionally made B.Sc so that no civilian pilot can qualify to apply for this particular job, which is against the international airline industry practice.
Flight Standards Directorate of CAA is a very important Directorate which is tasked with continuous monitoring of airlines to make sure that safety standards are not breached by any airline and the safety of the passengers is not compromised.
The directorate is also responsible for granting permissions to airlines to operate, check the standards of pilots and cabin crew for safety standards of ground instructors. In short, safety of airline operations depends on this directorate but for the last 15 years no permanent director has been appointed for a considerable time to head this department, he added.
President Palpa said the heads change very frequently causing uncertainty and lack of a long-term consistent policy and accountability for slackness, adding that the department is mostly run by persons appointed on ad-hoc basis and to avoid any legality, they are given either acting or officiating charge of the position. “It is being attempted for years to appoint an air force officer but they do not qualify because they have no commercial aviation or airline experience and knowledge of civil flying.”
“The government seriously needs to consider the neglected safety standards in civil aviation sector before some accident happens,” he added.
Most of the flight inspectors are above 62 years of age and retired airline pilots who have been given the responsibility of checking airline pilots whereas they themselves have not flown any airplane for several years, said the President, adding all of them are on contractual employment and their appointments have not been approved by the government as required under the rules.
The number of flight inspectors is too low as compared to the requirement; therefore, the inspections carried out by flight standards are also fewer in numbers, hence compromising air safety.