Pilots from dubious foreign schools, expats under scanner

New Delhi: The government has started a twin-pronged quality-check programme for pilots before certifying them fit to be in cockpits. Both fresh Indian pilots coming from flying schools abroad with dubious track record and foreign pilots are candidates for this quality check.
There had been reports that some flying schools abroad allegedly indulge in malpractices to fast track the process of churning out pilots or are ill-equipped to be a training facility at all.
This fear was borne out after a DGCA team went to some flying schools in Philippines last week and found that either schools did not have the required infrastructure or students were not flying for the set number of hours needed to become a pilot.
25/09/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India