Shocking exposé of #PIA and #CAA by Al-Jazeera, quoting six pilots, who they've spoken to. Cheating, fraudulent certification, pressure tactics, routine waivers, collusion. Pilots encouraged to come in "hot and high" to save fuel. Absolutely SHOCKING!
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/indepth/features/deadly-skies-pakistani-pilots-allege-systemic-safety-failures-200719071955129.html?__twitter_impression=true

Pilot A: "I am witness to it. I don't even have to think about it, I have witnessed it. It's a well-known thing in the industry that you can either do it the regular way or you can pay someone to [cheat] for you."

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

Pilot B: "It was easier to [cheat] than to not do it. They give you a bank of 40,000 questions. Then you can either study for it and try to pass, or you pay to get the answer key [from someone]."

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

Pilot C: "[CAA employees would] put in the [data] and do the exam and mark you as whatever grade you got. So you give me [a multiple of] 100,000 rupees ($600) and I'll make it happen on my day off. […] They were minting money." 

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

Pilot B: "It was so common to do this, to be told to just sign a licence [without certifying]. It was unbelievable to me. When I refused, my licence was put into audit and I was accused of having a forged logbook."

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

Pilot A: "In 2018, he crashed an aircraft on a single-engine emergency 11 times [in a row] on a [simulator] check-ride. And yet was cleared. Later, [that pilot] told me about how to pass papers fraudulently in the CAA."

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

Pilot D: "There have been so many safety violations. The EASA report did not come because of the crash or 'fake' licences, it was a ticking time bomb. [The airline] does not lack the safety management system, it has it, but it has no respect for safety culture."

#DeadlySkies

Pilot D: "When the regulator and operator share a bed, then things become very difficult. If I want to do a violation, there is provision that ... I can get a waiver from the CAA, for emergency use only."

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA #AlJazeera

"Aircraft were dispatched without correct parts on board. Operating with less than prescribed number of crew... Crews who are unqualified to run certain routes. All of this was to be covered by #CAA, but because of collusion with #PIA management, there were no consequences."

Pilot B: "If you come hot and high then you are cruising higher and saving fuel on the way down. [Management] started writing emails saying that pilots need to log how much fuel they use and how much they saved. Pilots with the highest fuel savings were given the best routes."

"...obvious that this hot-and-high thing... needs to be handled by the regulator. We had three overruns which were all incidents [in the last year], the fourth may not be so lucky. We told them that the fourth one could kill people. And the fourth one was [the #PK8303 crash]."

Pilot C: "In Pakistan, they don't know how to manage ASRs (air safety reports) and safety reports. Now, if there is an ASR, you can get in trouble. So guess what? You're not going to raise an ASR." 

#PIA #CAA #DeadlySkies #AlJazeera

Pilot A: "It was turbulent, it was bumpy and there was chaos on approach to runway 12. The captain froze at the controls and started praying to God." 

#DeadlySkies #PIA #CAA

We now know that being "hot and high" was the primary cause of the deadly #PK8303 crash. If this was a practice encouraged by #PIA management, even tacitly, knowing how risky it was, just to save some fuel, it's unforgivable! #DeadlySkies #CAA #AlJazeera