Mandatory Aptitude and Psychometric Test for Pilot Aspirants Soon
All the students aspiring to become pilots, would soon be required to clear an 
entrance exam where their aptitude would be tested before joining a flying school. Also the number of times one can appear for a Flying School Test in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) exams would be capped along with the introduction of biometric ways like iris scan to ensure that candidates don't send anyone else to appear for the exam in their place.
These suggestions were made by a government panel set up to examine reforms in DGCA's examination and licencing system. If implemented, the authorities have assured to remove the serious loopholes exposed by the recent fake pilot scam. It begins with reforms from admission stage. At present anyone with money and Physics and Maths at Class XII level can join a flying school and buy his or her way to getting a commercial pilot licence.
As per the reports, only candidates having an aptitude for flying must join this profession. The panel also recommends an entry level examination prior to giving admission. This will cover an aptitude and psychometric test. The panel suggests that the state-run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy must identify an agency for this exam that would be conducted for the DGCA.
Currently there are no restrictions on the number of times a student can appear to clear the DGCA exams. However now it has been recommended to have a cap on the number of attempts. The government is now planning to examine the records of students from school level from the moment they get admission card for exams.
A number of cases have been detected where students wrongly claimed to have Maths and Physics at Class XII level. To add on, the recent case was that of Gaurav Jain, who was arrested on charges of using forged marksheets to procure a commercial flying licence.
Source: Prachi Srivastava (Shiksha Team)
Date: 11th August, 2011
