Thread by @malicemagic

Six #Pakistani pilots spoke to @AlJazeera about allegations of fraud and improper flight certification practices.

@Official_PIA #CAA where art thou?

#MarshalMalik #ArCmdrHamdani firing pilots without show cause notice. Unheard off!

aljazeera.com/indepth/featur…

Government's list had a number of errors such as including the names of deceased pilots, confusing pilots with similar names, and classifying pilots as belonging to airlines they had never flown with or taking exams they never attempted.

#CAA @Official_PIA @PALPA2020

Pilot A said that he had been approached by colleagues with an offer to help him cheat, with the aid of #PCAA officials, in exchange for payment when he had been attempting his commercial pilot's licence (CPL) written exams in 2009.

@Official_PIA

#Pilot A said that he had been approached by colleagues with an offer to help him cheat, with the aid of #PCAA officials, in exchange for payment when he had been attempting his commercial pilot's licence (CPL) written exams in 2009.

@Official_PIA @PALPA2020

"Pilot B", a senior instructor at a flight school and later a commercial pilot at #PIA, said that while committing fraud on the tests was not widespread, the availability of the option was well known.

#PCAA #Pakistan @Official_PIA

Pilot B said he faced punitive action by the regulator #PCAA if he did not comply with requests to pass pilots, citing the example of one pilot who had not completed the required flight hours.

#PIA #Pakistan

"When I refused, my licence was put into audit and I was accused of having a forged logbook,"

#PCAA #Pilot #Pakistan

@AlJazeera reviewed flight logs showing flight duty time limitation (FDTL) violations on at least 8 occasions in 2020 alone, with flight duties ranging from 19 hours to more than 24 hours. The max FDTL under #PCAA regulations for an aircraft with two full crews onboard is 18 hrs

On June 30, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency @EASA  identified 6 areas of concern with the airline, singling out the failure to effectively implement the Safety Management System - (SMS)

@Official_PIA #PCAA #Pakistan

- More than 9 months since the #EU regulator had first raised the issue as part of its regular audit of #PIA's air safety compliance - as the primary reason for suspending the operator's authorisation.

#MarshalMalik DGCA #ArCmdrHamdani , where is #PCAA?

#Pilots had been encouraged to conduct approaches to airports "hot and high" - meaning flying for longer at higher altitudes, approaching runways at a steep angle of descent and higher speed - to save fuel. 

Criminal negligence on part of #PCAA

At home they blame pilots for plane crashes in half an hour of the crash & completely fail to mention how pilots have been forced to fly beyond their duty time limitations. A PIA plane for just this reason in Milan when essential services was imposed in Covid operations.