KATHMANDU, MAY 22

A massive scam brewing in Nepal's aviation involving the critical area for pilot licensing has been unearthed by this daily.

Pilot licensing remains one of the most heavily regulated areas in international aviation, for obvious reasons. Historically, Nepali pilots have earned their wings from foreign shores for decades, mostly from the US,

Canada and then later from countries like South Africa and Philippines. Dearth of reputed flying schools in and around Nepal with attractive placement opportunities has resulted in trainees making a beeline to the distant destinations.

The international civil aviation organization, with headquarters in Montreal, and the apex body for benchmarking civil aviation standards has provided the basis of recognition of pilot license across borders. ICAO's technical provisions allow the member states (Nepal is one) that do not have capabilities to issue licenses to convert foreign licenses to Nepali equivalents for allowing foreign-trained pilots to operate Nepal-registered aircraft. The ICAO defines pilot licence types based on the fineness of flying skills, breadth of knowledge in increasing order, so as to operate complex aircraft safely for remuneration. While the commercial pilot license allows the bearer to act as a co-pilot for aircraft types operated by Nepali carriers after undergoing type-specific training, the airline transport pilot licence is needed to assume command of the aircraft.

For graduating from the CPL to the ATPL license, apart from clearing written examinations administered by the aviation regulator, the pilot needs to amass certain flight hours under different flight conditions spread over years before demonstrating his mastery of flying skills to the regulator's flight examiner. 'The flight examiner assesses the applicant's proficiency on satisfactory knowledge, risk management, and adequacy of skills in-flight on topics approved by the regulator,' an ATPL holder from the FAA explained.

Nepal's aviation industry size hasn't sufficed to sustain a flying school for CPL training, as history shows, as it takes a long incubation period to garner the reputation for earning a steady stream of pilot trainees- domestic and abroad. And, it is only the success of the school products in the industry down the line that will draw students, a classic 'chicken and the egg story,' another Nepali pilot trained in the US explained.

Why Nepal has been allowing the issuance of ATP license, without ensuring the presence of requisite underlying components, i.e., in-status flight examiners, examiner's handbook, testing standards, etc. in a robust manner, is any body's guess. This situation would be similar to the scenario of TU offering Ph.D. courses in nuclear engineering without first a nuclear engineering department.

'Merely citing problems being faced by Nepali pilots' in obtaining western visa as well as the expensive training and tougher testing environments that result in higher failure rates is a sure recipe for disasters down the line,' a Nepal pilot flying for a reputed foreign carrier added.

This home-made remedy for ATPL issuance may be cheaper for the Nepali airlines and pilots in the short run, but is all but certain to invite scrutiny from foreign entities like the ICAO and EASA for sure with ignominious results for the country. An official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, however, said that the aviation regulator has now stopped issuance of ATPL for a month now.