Fake flights and fake flying hours in pilot licence scam

Jaipur : The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested an assistant general manager of the Jaipur Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the chief flying instructor (CFI) of the Rajasthan State Flying School in connection with a commercial pilot licence scam.

The duo, in collusion with other officials, allegedly accepted money to fudge records of flying hours for at least 14 students, thus helping them obtain commercial pilot licences in a fraudulent manner. According to the rules, students must log at least 200 flying hours to get a licence.

The accused have been identified as CFI Mahendra Kumar and AGM Manoj Jain. “Kumar would log fake hours and Jain at the ATC would countersign, though the plane was never in the air,” said ACB Additional Director General of Police Ajit Singh.

He added that Kumar charged students extra money for faking flying hours, over and above the official fee of Rs 4.7 lakh.

Last month, the ACB arrested an Indian Airlines pilot, Rahul Yadav, in connection with the same case. According to Singh, Yadav had logged only around 20 hours of flying time, while his flight logs showed the required 200 hours.

“Though records show that Yadav completed a cross-country flight from Jaipur to Hissar as part of his training, we have evidence to show that the plane he reportedly used was undergoing maintenance at the time,” said Singh. Incidentally, Yadav’s father is a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

ACB officials said that from 2004-2008, the duo had logged fake flying hours for at least 14 students, including another Indian Airlines technician, Rakesh Mehta, and Pallavi Sherje, who is at present an assistant flying instructor in Nagpur.

Incidentally, according to sources, Kumar was vying for the post of pilot of the state aircraft that ferries Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Bhupendra Yadav, the ACB investigation officer, said M S Beniwal, the CFI at Hissar Aviation Club, was also wanted in the case but was absconding. “We have a warrant for his arrest, but he has managed to evade the police. Kumar would log a cross-country flight from Jaipur to Hissar and back, as part of the training, and Beniwal would countersign,” said Yadav.

He said the ACB had records which showed that the only operational plane with the Rajasthan State Flying Club, a Cessna 152A with the serial number L-24161-15, was mostly on the ground or in maintenance, while students’ log books claimed otherwise.

“A cross-country flight is mandatory for all students and we believe that in the case of these 14 in question, they were never flying as they claim in their log books,” said Yadav.

“The ATC always maintains records of all flights in the air. None of these records exist for Kumar’s students. In one particular incident, April 15, 2008 was the last date of flying, but a student has shown that he was flying the aircraft on April 16 and April 17,” said Yadav.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fake-flights-and-fake-flying-hours-in-pilot-licence-scam/715173/