Pakistan ATR 42 crash inquiry finds crew’s licences were valid

Two pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines ATR 42-500 which crashed near Havelian four years ago were among cockpit crew initially suspected of holding dubious licences, but accident investigators have concluded their qualifications were valid. Pakistan’s civil aviation authority initiated an examination of pilot licensing records last year, finding evidence of irregularities in the conduct of ground examinations. “This rendered a suspicion about licenses of few of the pilots who appeared in the exams during a specified period of time,” says the Pakistani aircraft accident investigation board. “Their attendance [or] physical participation could not be verified from the records.” Three pilots – a captain and two first officers – were in the cockpit of the PIA ATR at the time of the fatal Havelian accident on 7 December 2016. One of the first officers, occupying the right-hand seat, was undergoing route training while the other, already qualified, was in the jump seat. The inquiry says the captain’s and the jump-seat first officer’s names appeared on the initial list of pilots whose licences were considered suspicious. As part of its licensing scrutiny the civil aviation authority has sought clarification from individuals, and reconciled a number of cases – and the inquiry states that the authority “removed” the names of the two pilots from the list, on the basis that standards were followed. “All three pilots held valid licences, and medical fitness,” the investigators add. “They fulfilled the desired qualification criteria, and met the related formal prerequisites…which were required for the event flight.”<br/>