262 pilots have 'suspicious flying licences'; to be grounded immediately: Sarwar.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday revealed that as many as 262 pilots, out of total 860 in the country, had 'suspicious flying licences', who would be grounded immediately.

'Their [pilots] licences are doubtful due to certain reasons including dates of examination and exams. There are some pilots, who did not appear in any paper, out of eight, but managed to get the licences. Among them are those working with the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Airblue, Serene, private clubs and foreign airlines,' he said while talking to the media after presenting the interim inquiry report on the PIA plane crash in the National Assembly.

On May 22, the PIA flight PK 8303, carrying 99 people, including eight crew members, had crashed into residential area just before landing at the Karachi Airport, which claimed 97 lives and caused considerable damage to the residential houses.

The minister said such an irregularity could not be committed without connivance of the licence issuing authority and the information technology personnel, and the government had reached those 'characters' among them 'some are internal and some external.' 'Now our hands are on their neck and they too will not be able to escape.'

He said the government had decided that all such pilots would be issued show cause notices and charge sheets so that they could not fly any plane. 'They will be grounded immediately.'

Sarwar said criminal proceedings would also be initiated against the fake licence holder pilots as the government could not allow anyone to put the lives of its citizens at risk.

During the degree verification process, he said, educational credentials of around 600 employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), including four pilots, were found fake.

Commenting on the PIA flight PK-8303 crash, the Aviation Minister said as per the preliminary inquiry report, the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft and Air Traffic Controller (ATC) had not followed the set landing procedure that caused the tragedy.

During the first landing attempt, he said, the plane was at 7,200 feet height from ten nautical miles of the runway, which should have been 2,500 feet as per the...