When is a pilot not a pilot?
Licence is one issue in India! The more pressing problem is that there are a small but significant number of commercial pilots who operate in India, legally licensed or not, who quite simply are not pilots – they cannot fly. There are First Officers and Captains who are sitting in the front of multi million pound jets and operate with their fingers crossed and a fly by number approach to the job – they have no skill. In reality there is no minimum acceptable standard in India. Some so called pilots have reached their position in an airline through contacts or by bribing people in one way or another. The senior people who ‘arranged’ the job cannot afford the incompetent pilot to be found out for obvious reasons. Not just Indian nationals but expat pilots/managers of dubious background hired through agencies that may offer payments to those airline executives using their agency service
If an honest TRE/TRI/Check Pilot brings the abysmal performance of some of these so called pilots to the attention of the senior managers, then this TRE/TRI/Check Pilot may not be rostered with the individual again. (They may not be rostered with anyone again?) The so called pilot may well do a few flights with the senior manager, who could well have arranged the job in the first place or be under immense pressure from ‘above’, and so called pilot is likely to appear on line a few weeks later.
TRE’s in India continually report having to take control on landing, below 100ft, during initial line training because some 200 hour trainee pilots are allowed in the RHS of passenger jets with insufficient training and/or lack of basic competence. It seems to be accepted in India that ‘basic’ flying training is often required during initial line training on jet transport aircraft, with passengers on board. It is often difficult to believe that these so called pilots have completed the required hours or tests for a CPL, let alone passed a type rating. The coming monsoon season will see many airlines in India operating flights with inexperienced Captains and low hour First officers. They may well be the very best, and mostly at least one pilot will be fully competent; but unfortunately the chances of having incompetent pilots paired together on the flight deck are increasing exponentially as some companies look to upgrade to Captain with minimum hours (1,500 total), continue to hire via dubious means whilst also often treating checking, including initial base training, as just another tick in box to be done and signed off at the behest of a powerful superior or as a returned favour. India is where inexperienced junior first officers often refer to themselves as ‘Captain’ and some of those promoted to Captain, with around 2,000hrs, are in reality no more than a F/O with a LHS check: This does not affect the arrogance of a few who are happy to remain unconcerned as to how little they know or how very limited their skills are.
With so many pilots out of work in India surely it is time to hire based on competence rather than connections or the ability to work the system. Competence means having the skills to fly an aircraft, not just pass technical examinations that mostly have little relevance. This is not exclusively an Indian problem, but in India the effects of a corrupt system will be the greatest: Although the Middle East will run a close second as those Indian pilots (and others) with dubious qualifications/skills try their hardest to get a position overseas where they hope that they will not be found out. My commiserations to the majority of Indian professional pilots who have to endure the continual assault on their integrity due to a number of their colleagues, managers and regulators who are corrupt, unlicensed or incompetent and possibly all three.
Finally, I doubt if Indigo are the worst offenders so maybe a new thread is required?