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Row over commercial licences for SLAF pilots
The Sri Lanka Air Force has requested the Civil Aviation Authority to exempt its pilots from written knowledge exams when granting commercial licences —a departure from internationally-accepted standards.
Informed industry sources said the Air Force’s insistence on this matter had placed the CAA in a quandary. “We hear that letters have gone up and down,” said one source. Any pilot wishing to fly civilian passenger flights is required to obtain his commercial pilot licence (CPL) from the CAA. This applies also to Air Force pilots. (The Air Force operates civilian flights through Helitours).
Certain exceptions are granted to Air Force pilots on the basis of their higher flying hours and experience. But they must, like other applicants, sit for several written papers to obtain commercial pilot licences. According to the CAA’s website, the subjects covered by these technical papers are aircraft general knowledge, flight performance, planning and loading, human performance, meteorology, navigation, operational procedures, principles of flight and radiotelephony.
At present, applicants from the Air Force subject themselves to these written exams as well as skills, medical fitness and other tests. However, since last year the Air Force has been requesting the CAA to waive the requirement of the written papers. “The CAA has said there is only one way to set about it,” the source said. “That is, the Air Force will need to allow a team to evaluate the Air Force’s examination system and to establish a benchmark. But we are told that this did not happen.”
Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalsiri refused to comment on the matter. However, when asked directly whether the CAA could issue a commercial licence without following established procedure, he replied: “No, we have to ensure that everybody meets the minimum standards specified by us in keeping with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).”
“If their pilots have this essential knowledge, why not demonstrate it by sitting these exams?” asked another source. “I would guess the problem is that these are technical subjects which you tend to forget if you have not studied them for some time.” These sources said they feared that if the ICAO was notified, the international regulatory body could blacklist Sri Lanka’s commercial pilot licences. They warned that this could affect all of the country’s commercial pilots licensed by the CAA.
Air Force Spokesman Andrew Wijesuriya said the Air Force had its systems evaluated by the CAA in 2010. “They reviewed our syllabi and our flying training school. They wanted us to adjust a few syllabi and we did that.” “The Air Force does advanced-flying training. Our training set-up is designed as per the CAA standards. Our Air Force flying training schools are audited by the Royal Air Force so we maintain currency,” Commodore Wijesuriya said.
To become a civilian flight instructor, a pilot needs to have clocked in 280 hours of flying, followed a 30-hour course and attended four days of ground school. In contrast, an Air Force flight instructor must have 800 hours of flying, followed a 100-hour course and have attended ground school for two months.“At the moment, we do have a large number of pilots who have been training with us and are stepping out in search of employment,” Commodore Wijesuriya admitted. “If we do our own training, and we have our own syllabi which are up to the Civil Aviation standard, why do we need to repeat an exam? We would like to give him a bit of dignity.”
“This matter can be amicably settled,” he said. “If they have issues, let’s discuss them.”
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