IndAir967 wrote:
"Though I know there might be some really good pilots from where you are..
Phillipines CPL is a Big No for most of the Airlines..
May be if u get ur ATPL u might stand a chance..
Believe me or not when I had gone for the airline interview
in those days.. The very first thing done was send a lot of
phillipines CPL guys back in the first round itself..
Its Shocking but its the truth .."
There are a couple dozen schools in the Philippines that specialize in "training" Indian students. They are all fly-by-night outfits that certify much more flying time than the students actually fly. Students typically fly about 100-120 hours for their CPL/IR. Also, solo flight outside the traffic pattern is prohibited by these schools. Students on "solo cross-country" flights must fly with a "safety pilot" who may or may not be a licensed instructor.
Students are introduced to the schools by Indian agents who take a substantial cut of the tuition as a commission. The schools pay part of the remaining tuition to corrupt local officials who turn a blind eye to what has obviously been going on for years.
An agent approached the owner of a large pilot school in the Clark Freeport Zone and offered to bring in "as many students as you can handle" in exchange of USD3,000 per student to be deducted from the tuition paid by their sponsors. The owner refused saying he would be unable to complete their training below actual cost. The agent said quite candidly that the students did not actually have to fly all of the required hours. Everything had been "pre-arranged" all the way to the DGAC.
The agent even proudly told the owner, "If you think you Filipinos are corrupt, you are nothing compared to us!"
Yikes!
So that particular school is not on the Indian gravy train that has made many other pilot school owners into multi-millionaires. They have perhaps a dozen or fewer Indian students who did not go through agents. That school has more than 100 students from all over the world so it's not hurting.
Pity the poor students who now hold Philippine CPLs that are next to worthless. Then again I've flown with graduates of US-FAA Part 141 schools who had a hard time finding their a*se with two hands. So the problem isn't localized in any particular place. Levels of competence, corruption, and greed vary widely/wildly around the globe.
