Errant woman pilot loses licence

Investigators later found that she had allegedly faked papers to get her flying permit. “Yes, it (commercial pilot’s licence) has been cancelled. We will file a police complaint soon against the pilot, Parminder Kaur Gulati,” DGCA Director General Bharat Bhushan said here adding, “DGCA will carry detailed probe to ensure that such things do not recur. We will take necessary steps accordingly...”. DGCA sources said the pilot while flying the private Indigo airliner made a rough landing at Goa airport on January 11 using the nose wheel instead of the rear landing gear. Investigations have revealed that she used the wrong technique several times, the sources said. When contacted, IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said the January incident was reported to DGCA and the airline had itself instituted an Investigation Board, whose findings were “accepted by DGCA”.

He said the pilot was not only sent to DGCA for corrective training but de-rostered last month itself. “It was only last Thursday we were informed that there were some discrepancies in the licence issued to her by the DGCA two-three years ago. As an airline, we can only rely on DGCA licence and records. So we will follow DGCA instructions on this issue as well,” Ghosh said.

“We are requesting DGCA to conduct a thorough inquiry to ensure that there are no discrepancies in any other licences or certificates issued by it to any pilot, engineer or cabin attendant. We will proactively assist the aviation regulator in this matter as there is absolutely no compromise on safety,” he added. According to DGCA, to obtain airline transport pilot licence, one needs to fly 1,500 flying hours and also is required to complete an examination. Sources said the pilot while landing needs to use the aircraft’s rear wheels to touchdown as the nose wheel is not equipped to take the plane’s heavy weight.

Police report

DGCA would also probe whether any touts helped the pilot obtain the licence, sources said and added that the DGCA was also contemplating filing police report against the pilot on two counts- of endangering safety of passengers and fraud and forgery, but no decision has yet been taken.