KARACHI: While a private airline is compromising air safety by making its pilots operate scheduled flights in the night without valid licences, the regulator, Civil Aviation Authority, rather than taking any punitive action against the airline/ pilots is regularising the illegality, it is learnt.

According to sources, besides being a compromise on air safety it could lead to insurance disputes also in case of an unfortunate incident occurring to an aircraft being operated by pilots having expired or invalid licences.

The sources said that one of the pilots flying the aircraft in the night without a valid licence is the airline’s chief pilot whose job is to ensure that all CAA rules were being followed by the crew and the airline.

Dawn repeatedly tried to get the CAA version on the air safety violation issue but its spokesperson, Pervez George, said he would respond after getting an input from the director for flight standards, Zafar Mehmood, which he never did.

The sources said the airline concerned was Aircraft Sales and Service (Pvt) Ltd, which provides charter aircraft service particularly to the petroleum companies operating in remote areas to transport their officials from their head offices to the oilfields. The sources said oil companies chartered aircraft owing to poor law and order and security situation in remote areas little knowing that the airline compromised the air safety and was exposing the passengers to safety hazards.

The sources said ASSL chief pilot Sohail Arshad and copilot Nauman Nabi with seven employees of the oil company, United Energy Pakistan, one airport security force official and a technician flew their aircraft (Beechcraft) from Karachi to the Khaskheli oilfield near Badin on Aug 20 late in the evening, and later they returned. The sources said licences of both pilots were invalid for night flying.

The sources said the ASSL approached the CAA on Aug 26 informing it of the serious incident, after six days of its occurrence, and CAA general manager Mushtaq Ahmed, signing for director flight standards, Zafar Mehmood, regularised the irregularity the next day.

Mushtaq Ahmed in his Aug 27 communication to the ASSL said: “night flying of Syed Sohail Arshad and Capt Nauman Nabi on B-1900 aircraft done on Aug 20, 2014 is hereby regularized. The Aircraft Sales and Services (Pvt) Ltd is to ensure that all pilots are night current to avoid any recurrence in future.”

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014