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THE CURIOUS CASE OF FAY-DOHERTY

Michael_JamesMichael James Fay-Doherty was one of the many expat pilots who came to India looking for a job at the height of the aviation boom in 2007, hoping perhaps that his criminal record and forged papers would go undetected by the understaffed aviation regulator when passenger traffic had surged and pilots were in short supply.

Fay-Doherty wasn’t far off the mark. By the time the American pilot’s false credentials were discovered and he left the country, he had already flown for six months with IndiGo, the country’s largest low-cost airline.

Three years ago, while investigating a flawed landing technique used by another IndiGo pilot, Parminder Kaur Gulati, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) discovered that she had produced a fictitious marksheet to obtain her commander’s licence.

The DGCA then started scanning all the 4,500 pilot licences it had issued in the past five years. In the ensuing crackdown, the crime branch of the Delhi Police detained 22 people, including pilots, trainers and DGCA officials. The last word hasn’t been heard yet on these cases.

As investigations proceed, some aviation experts are asking if checks are being sidestepped in hiring procedures, in the process compromising air safety, even as airlines prepare for a new boom in passenger traffic.

Carriers such as Air India, Jet Airways, IndiGo, Go Air and SpiceJet have ordered 534 planes worth $40 billion, many of which will be delivered in the next five years.

As a result, the airlines will require 5,000 pilots, including 1,200 expatriates, to keep the fleet in the air, executives told the DGCA last year.

India’s domestic and international passenger traffic is expected to grow threefold from 142 million in 2010 to 450 million by 2020, making it the world’s third biggest aviation market, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy firm.

For the safety and security of Indian aviation, it is vital that the Fay-Doherty experience doesn’t recur, though foreign pilots remain critical to fuel the airline industry’s growth.

Expatriate pilots aren’t given Indian licences; their foreign licences are supposed to be validated by their employers so that they can fly in India.

Fay-Doherty, with a licence (No. 2129236) issued by the US regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), landed a job at IndiGo in May 2007 through the UK-based recruitment agency AeroProfessional Ltd. He was quick to seek a promotion citing his purported experience, backed by FAA certificates.

A chance email exchange between the FAA and IndiGo executives showed that his documents had been forged. According to sources, he was fired in October 2007 after he failed to reply to a show-cause notice. He had informed the airline that he would need time to respond to the show-cause notice and was resigning. He was “not traceable” after that, according to an internal note.

Back in the US, the FAA traced Fay-Doherty. He was punished and currently holds no legal flying certificates.

IndiGo conceded that the pilot had managed to skirt its checks. “Our team validates each document thoroughly before submitting the same to the DGCA for its clearance,” said IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh in an email reply. “The DGCA, in turn, validates the credentials and permits the pilot to operate in Indian skies. (As for) Michael James Fay-Doherty, all the requisite documents and licences were checked and validated before offering him a job… Whilst he was still employed with the company, the background check on antecedents continued. We received a mail from the FAA on his credentials. Once we got into the contents, the pilot was issued a show-cause notice and put off flying duties. Subsequent to which his contract was terminated on the grounds of veracity of particulars submitted.”

Only, until he resigned, Fay-Doherty continued to fly. It could not be ascertained how many flights he had flown, but the typical IndiGo pilot flies 85-90 hours a month, which could translate into 40-50 flights.

The Fay-Doherty episode had raised questions on how an individual skirted scrutiny in a country where hundreds of expat pilots are currently employed with airlines.

“It exposes the nexus between the airlines and the DGCA, the agencies that supply (pilots) without background checks and the criminal negligence in furnishing false information to the home ministry,” says aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan. “Are our regulators willing to bite the bullet and kick the fakes out?”

The DGCA grants the Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation in line with a standard process. All airlines work with different pilot recruitment agencies worldwide to source expat pilots and forward a list of eligible fliers to the DGCA with five forms, licences and a passport, after which the DGCA sends the documentation to the home ministry for background checks on the person.

The problem is that there is no cross-verification of expat licences by the DGCA with the regulator of the country where the licence was originally granted. The onus of doing this is on the airline, except that foreign government regulators typically do not reply to correspondence sent by airlines as a matter of protocol.

Expat pilots will continue to be critical to the airline industry’s growth, otherwise planes will need to be grounded, warns the CEO of a private airline.

—PRADYOT LAL


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