The directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) has lodged a complaint with the Delhi police against a woman pilot for allegedly flying a commercial airliner on a fudged licence. Captain Parminder Kaur Gulati had allegedly repeatedly failed the test for her pilot’s licence but managed to get a licence by transposing her picture on the
marksheet of a successful candidate. Her deed came to light when the DGCA launched an investigation into her “rough landing” of a passenger aircraft at Goa international airport on January 11.
“The DGCA has investigated. I have revoked her (Ms Gulati’s) licence with immediate effect. We have also lodged a police complaint,” Mr E.K. Bharat Bhushan, DGCA, told this newspaper.
“Yes, the DGCA has informed us of this,” said Aditya Ghosh, CEO, IndiGo, when asked for his comment. “As an airline, we can only rely on the DGCA licence and records. So we’ll follow the DGCA’s instructions on this too. She has not been flying for over a month now.”
The directorate-general of civil aviation investigation of the Goa landing showed that Capt. Gulati had used the fragile nosewheel just under the cockpit for the touchdown instead of adopting the normal practice of using the main-landing gear (MLG), which comprises two sets of sturdy rear wheels capable of taking the weight of the aircraft at great speed.
The nosewheel gear (NLG) is used only after the aircraft touches down on the MLG and the speed is considerably reduced.
Capt. Gulati had then merely stated that it was “rough landing” and that the Airbus was cleared for the return flight to Delhi after the pilot and a ground engineer went round the aircraft and decided there was nothing to worry about.
But the plane’s electronic systems signalled mid-flight that the landing gear did not retract and was stuck.
The aircraft was flown back to Goa and, after the passengers were off-loaded, returned to Delhi.
Finding that Capt. Gulati appeared to have made NLG touchdowns on 15 to 20 earlier occasions, the directorate-general of civil aviation launched a detailed investigation that threw up the startling facts about her pilot licence.