Doing Away With Archaic Rules

The system of licensing of pilots in India is governed by the provisions of the Indian Aircraft Act of 1934 and Rule 38, Schedule II of Indian Aircraft Rules, 1937. It is implemented through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), also referred to as the regulator. From the vintage of the Act and the Rules it is clear that these were formulated by the British masters. The colonial philosophy embedded in the regulations has been inherited by the DGCA that is the sole authority with immense discretionary and overriding powers.

PROBLEM AREAS AND SOLUTIONS

Discretion. Discretionary powers in the hands of a single individual or regulatory body are often misused for a price. One of the primary methods of overcoming corruption is to take away total discretionary powers from a single authority.

Examinations. The DGCA determines whether a pilot is fit to hold a certain category of licence through a system of examinations. Preparatory work for the examination is the responsibility of the candidate. The system of examination is completely outdated and not in tune with the times. The following are the problem areas that lead to a situation in which the candidate is left with little choice but to resort to unfair means.

Examination Papers. The papers for pilots’ examinations are set by non-pilots. The world over, India included, engineering examination papers are set by professors who are engineers and law examination papers are set by lawyers. This ensures that the questions are relevant, current and updated. India is the only country where examination papers for pilots are set by examiners who are not pilots. This seriously dilutes the quality of the question papers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) have a system of ‘Question Bank’ containing thousands of questions set by examiners who are pilots and regularly updated. Examination papers are set with questions drawn from the bank.

Viva Voce. This examination is conducted by a panel of examiners. The written examination papers are online as they should be. Ideally there would be no human interference. However, the viva by a panel of examiners introduces an element of subjectivity. Also, with every examination, the composition of the panel changes, leading to different levels of knowledge expected of the candidates by different examiners. This makes the system totally unfair. In fact, viva voce should be done away with.

Procedure for Application. The procedure for submission of application by post and payment of fees by demand draft in vogue today, is completely outdated. In a digital environment, the candidate ought to be able to do both online.

Frequency of Examination. At present, pilot’s examinations are held once every three months. The examinations should be held on a daily basis as an ongoing process at the designated DGCA examination centres. To amplify this, a candidate should be in a position to complete his application process and choose a date for the examination and go to an approved examination centre. He should be able to appear in the examination and on completion of the examination, get his result on the spot.

On passing, he moves on to the next stage. In case he fails he should be able to come back and reappear for the examination at the end of the specified “cooling period” which should not exceed a week. There should be no requirement for an examination hall full of a hundred or more candidates being supervised by half a dozen or so invigilators. All this leads to unfair practices. There are bound to be more than one examinee at any one time, appearing for the examination. The software can be suitably set so that every candidate gets a different paper. There would be no need for invigilators.

Submission of Papers and Issue of Licence. Examination results would necessarily be with the DGCA and the result of the medical examination also goes directly to the DGCA. Therefore, other than the logbook and related flying documents, there should be no need to submit any other documents.

Smart Card. The licence itself should be a ‘chip-embedded smart card’ so that data of written tests, route checks, refreshers and medicals can be routinely updated by the company. Any inspector with a hand-held access machine can carry out a check.

Validity of Licence. A pilot’s licence is his professional qualification exactly the same as that of a doctor, engineer, lawyer or administrator. Under the present rules, in India, should a pilot take a sabbatical for, say five years or more, he ceases to be a pilot and has to start the revalidation process from a Student Pilot Licence all over again. Nowhere in the world does this happen. FAA licences are valid for life. Even in India, after a break, a doctor does not have to do his MBBS again, nor does an engineer have to do his BE again. A licence should be for life. Only its currency can expire which can be revalidated through refresher and simulator training.

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS

This issue needs to be covered under two separate headings, namely the need or otherwise for civil pilot medicals to be conducted under the overall supervision of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and fitness standards.

Medical Examination under IAF Supervision. The existing system requires medical examinations to be conducted under the umbrella of the IAF. It may have made sense earlier but today, the quality of medical expertise available outside the IAF is extremely high. For a normal pilot medical, there is no need for an aviation medicine specialist. Even in India, under existing conditions, it is not required. Under conditions where a pilot needs clearance with the opinion of a specialist, there are highly qualified specialists in every single field of medicine available here outside the IAF. In every major city, the DGCA could constitute a panel of specialists whose opinion could be sought as and when required.

Medical Standards. India is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and has to follow its guidelines for medical standards. However, member states are free to raise medical standards. Today, the medical standards set by DGCA for pilots are perhaps the strictest in the world. However, raising standards does not necessarily lead to having fitter pilots. If ICAO guidelines are met, the country will have pilots who are adequately fit. Civil aviation needs fit humans who can function as pilots, not astronauts. The standards set by DGCA are high to the point of being unrealistic.

Civil aviation pilots begin at 18 and continue to fly up to the age of 65. Throughout this period they must remain medically fit. Here are two examples of how unrealistic the standards could be. For a pilot to be in the normal weight category, from the age of 18 to 65, he is required to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) below 25. There is absolutely no allowance for increase in weight for 47 full years which is unrealistic. God help the pilot who exceeds BMI of 25 as the doctor conducting the examination can subject the individual to tests ranging from blood sugar to glucose tolerance to anything that he considers necessary. This decision cannot be questioned. However, if questioned, the number of tests may only increase.

The slightest deviation from the laid-down limits is enough to ground the pilot initially for three months and thereafter, in multiples of three months. The second example is of additional biochemical medical tests which start at age 35 with a frequency of once every five years to age 55 then every two years to age 59 and then every year from 60 to 65. From age 60 to 65, the tests increase both in complexity and numbers. Most of these are investigative procedures normally prescribed after an individual displays symptoms. Here, they are required to be done as a matter of routine. Some of these procedures have their own attendant risks. The question to be asked is: “How do pilots cope with this illogical situation?”

This leads to unfair practices, self-medication and finally drives pilots abroad or out of flying. At present, there are over a dozen Indian pilots flying all over the world in leading airlines, who cannot pass medicals in India but can pass ICAO standard medicals anywhere in the world. As a result, there is a shortage of Indian pilots and the void is filled by expatriate pilots at fancy salaries. There is only one solution—follow ICAO standards.

REDRESSAL PROCEDURE

As it stands, the only redressal avenue open to a candidate with a complaint or grievance of any nature is to appeal to the DGCA, against whom he has a complaint to begin with. The investigating body is the DGCA and the adjudicating body is also the DGCA; finally, the decision making body is also the DGCA. So effectively the judge, jury and executioner are all the same—the DGCA. This goes against the grain of natural justice. It perhaps was the accepted norm when these rules were framed by the British, as the white man’s supremacy had to be maintained. However, this does not hold good today. An independent body is needed to provide fair, effective and speedy redressal of grievances.

SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS

• The entire rule position of civil aviation needs to be redone. In short, a new Civil Aviation Act needs to be reenacted.
• Discretionary powers, which are solely responsible for leaving the door wide open for unfair and corrupt practices, must be done away with.
• The procedure for licensing examinations for pilots needs to be completely revamped.
• The procedure for submission and processing at DGCA has to be spelt out with a time frame of maximum number of days required. It must be a transparent process and available online.
• A new smart card licence that has all relevant data of the pilot uploaded by the company at the DGCA must be introduced.
• The validity of the pilot’s licence has to be for life and the procedure for revalidating currencies must be put in place.
• The medical examination of pilots must come out of the umbrella of the IAF.
• The medical standards to be maintained by pilots must be as spelt out by the ICAO. There is no need to have more stringent regulations than that.
• An independent body, not reporting to the DGCA but directly to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, must be put in place for effective and speedy redressal of grievances.

CONCLUSION

While the aim of this article has been to highlight the deficiencies and archaic procedures being followed, the scope of the paper has been to highlight what ails the pilots licensing domain. It has deliberately not touched upon any other aspects that need to be addressed separately. There is a huge task ahead which will have to be taken head on in as short a time frame as possible. The bottom line is change the archaic rules once and for all.