Well if you read the article carefully
4000 Pilot Licenses are now under fresh scrutiny
There are close to 4500 Indian DGCA ATPL holders in India . What the article mentions is that all the ATPL licenses issued so far will be checked again
However if you read the headlines it gives the feeling that all the pilot licenses issued so far and i mean each every one of them are fake
I am sure you understand how the media loves to blow things out of proportion especially when it comes to aviation .
This what happened . They get fed of trying to clear the ATPL written exams and oral exams . Yes there are oral exams for ATPL theory . If you dont pass the oral you are considered fail in the written even if you get 100% in the written exam .
So what they did was they bribed some guy in front of the DGCA office to get a fake mark sheet telling they passed .
Using this the DGCA issued them an ATPL .
The DGCA had an a very vague syllabus until June 2011 . They were forced to publish a detailed syllabus due to the above issue
I remember reading about a Captain who had forged his ATPL Meteorology paper . He got fed up of giving it again and again and then finally found someone to make him a fake mark sheet .
He converted his FAA ATP license to an Indian DGCA ATPL .
His FAA ATP license was original . His DGCA license was fake because of the forged mark sheet .
I dont agree or support him at all for what he did but... Does that make him a fake pilot ?
He passed all the FAA and Indian DGCA checkrides . But that one meteorology paper screwed up his whole career of 22 years .
Like I said earlier the media loves to overhype and sensationalise when to comes to scams and aviation .
The majority of them worked very hard to come this far .
However the 1% that wanted it the easy way gave us a bad name in the world of aviation
