After the tragic Bhoja Air crash, Pakistan is likely to face a slide in its aviation ratings over the serious negligence shown by the country’s aviation authority in its air transport matters.
The plane crash that killed all 127 passengers onboard will be a major issue for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the next audit of International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).
Sources in the airline industry told Pakistan Today that any member country of ICAO can complain over the negligence of CAA in the air transport mechanism in Pakistan, which will result in low ratings for the country due to the serious violations of international aviation rules and regulations.
“The blame of the recent airplane crash lies solely with the CAA’s Air Transport Department, which is being run by a non-technical and non-qualified professional for months, despite the fact that the position is assigned by ICAO for better management of a country’s aviation,” the sources said.
Before the last ICAO audit held in June 2011, the CAA Air Transport and Licensing departments were being looked after by then Licensing General Manager Aftab Naqvi.
“To save the organisation from sanctions, the then CAA management immediately handed over the charge of Air Transport Department to Khawar Ghiyas,” sources added.
Since last December, the department, which deals with 80 percent of the aviation issues, is being run by Fauzia Saleem, a professional accountant on deputation at the CAA from the office of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
“One of the most important departments of CAA, which issues licenses to airlines, renews or revokes licences and bilateral agreements with other countries, under the charge of a non-technical person is a matter of grave concern,” the sources said. “She also had a role in the renewal of the Bhoja Air’s licence some time ago, so one can easily understand what went wrong.”
Once the ICAO comes for an audit, this will surely result in downgrade of Pakistan’s aviation ratings by ICAO, they added.
The ICAO’s air transport regulation programmes deal mainly with matters relating to the regulation of international air transport, striving to implement practical and achievable measures to improve safety and efficiency in all sectors of the air transportation system.
Earlier in December, Auditor General Akhtar Buland Rana had asked the CAA to return the services of Saleem, who was serving as the Controller Military Accounts (CMA) in Karachi prior to her deputation in CAA as Air Transport Director, for their office in Quetta.
“Former CAA Director General Khalid Chohdri did not allow Saleem to return to the AGP office,” the sources informed Pakistan Today.
According to the CAA website, matters that come in the domain of its Air Transport Department include drafting national aviation policy, bilateral air service agreements, routes of scheduled or non-scheduled flight operations, issuing licences of Regular Public Transport (RPT – all private and national airlines are operating under this licence), charter flights, aerial works, flying schools, ground schools, dangerous goods regulations, etc.
Similarly, as per regulations for the renewal of RPT licence: “The licence holder (licencee) shall apply to the CAA Air Transport director. After receiving the application, the Air Transport Department is bound to seek comments and satisfaction over the worthiness of the airline from aviation experts.”
The sources said that no such requirements were fulfilled prior to licencing the Bhoja Air to resume its operations in the country.
They added that the Air Transport director must either be a former air traffic controller or one with satisfactory aviation background.
The rule is: “On receipt of the federal government approval, the licence shall be renewed by the Air Transport Directorate.”
The sources said that other CAA departments are also mismanaged. “The former South Region controller Bhatti was qualified in Russian flight standards,” they said.
Bhatti was replaced by Mushtaq Saein a week ago.
According to the sources, Bhatti was responsible for checking airworthiness of planes.
Similarly, an inspector at the CAA Flight Standards Department, the aviation officer concerned for Bhoja Air, has been a long-term employee of Bhoja Air Managing Director Arshad Jalil.
As per rules: “The Flight Standards Department performs the task of maintaining regular surveillance of the operational aspects of all air transport operators to ensure safe and efficient commercial air transport services in the country.”
The sources opined that these issues are not new for the CAA as one of its inspectors, Captain Shafqat Mehmood, an Air Blue inspector for long – even at the time of Air Blue plane crash –is also a pilot at the Air Blue company.
“This is in violation of Rule 197(II)C, which restricts the CAA employees from flying private airlines as pilots in command,” the sources said.
Mehmood’s position was challenged in the Sindh High Court by his former colleague Captain Nawaz Asim, who even won the case, but the CAA has still not stopped the official from flying at Air Blue.
Some of the information given in this article needs correction. Bhoja Airline's license was renewed under court orders in 2008. Regular public transport (RPT) license is issued and subsequently renewed every year by Ministry of Defense. CAA, however, processes the applications for issuance as well as renewal of licenses before submitting them to Ministry of Defense. There are no permanent Air Transport Officers in CAA Pakistan. The lower slots are usually filled in by CAA officers from Air Traffic Control because they are readily available for the job. The top slot of Director Air Transport can be filled in by anyone as practice has been. Until 2008 it used to be filled up either by a serving Air Commodore from PAF or a CSP officer from MOD. After 2008, after almost two decades, a CAA Director from ATC branch with a reasonable experience of Air Transport took over as Director Air Transport. After a brief tenure he handed over the slot to another ATC officer the same level of experience in Air Transport branch. Mr. Aftab, from CAA Flight Standards branch, did serve in this seat for a few months and then but his reason for leaving the seat had nothing to do with ICAO Audit as Air Transport does not deal with safety related issues.
we requested MR ALI i know you are working in CAA AT but your defense is very week after 127 life's nation not want take another Risk with AUDIT group peoples run VERY IMPORTANT technical position
i lose my 5 family friends in crash i know pain Mr Ali DAT CAA is very important post only for technical person , responsibilities, already, mention in article
why you know DAT is bold lady or she enjoy confidence of all AT staff you know why?
Ms Fauzia Saleem, a CSP officer, is a professional Auditor who has already served in CAA as CFO. It is true that, like her predecessors from PAF and MOD, she did not have prior experience of serving in Air Transport but she enjoys the confidence of all air transport officers and staff to take the right decision. She is a bold lady who never bends the rules in favour or against operators. Bhoja Air’s crash has nothing to do with Air Transport. Safety issues are dealt with by Airworthiness Directorate and Flight Standards Directorate of Civil Aviation. Nevertheless leveling allegation against any Director at this point in time when the inquiry is in progress would be premature and immoral.
NOT TRUE SHE IS CSS OFFICER NOT CSP OFFICER
I think if CAA P need bold Director Air Transport i advice you hire Chaudhry Aslam SSP CID police we need technical persons for technical posts i agree with asfer we prefer 1st our airspace safety after Bhoja air crash DAT CAA fuzia saleem why not stop boja operation reason is she dont know about Air transport rules as per my info DAT CAA is authorized cancel licence bhoja air but still today not action from DAT CAA evenn Arshad Jalil is out of Pakistan or not want come to face 127 Pakistani citizen calculated murder Air transport not stop Bhoja operation reason is she dont know AT rules shame shame
@Asfer Tanzeem
The whole nation is sad over the unfortunate accident and loss of 127 valuable lives. May Allah bless the departed souls and give their near and dear ones strength to bear the pain. Kindly accept my deepest condolences for loss of your near and dear ones. To answer your question why do I think she is a bold lady Director because she does not bend the rules under pressure whatsoever in favour or against any one. She is so different from the crowd. Safety in any case is not her business. There are other departments within CAA which look after safety and security issues. The author of the article has not done proper research into the processes of Civil Aviation.
@Iqbal Faruqqi
There are four different departments within Civil Aviation Authority which evaluate the applicants of airline license on various aspects of airline business including its financial strength/ commercial viability, operational capability, and safety related aspects before forwarding the application to Ministry of Defense for the issuance of license. The responsibility of Director Air Transport is limited to commercial aspects and consumer protection. It would be very unfair to blame Director Air Transport for the sad accident, which could be a simple human error, machinery failure, weather or a combination of these. We all know that the unfortunate aircraft was probably caught in bad weather. Lets wait for the investigation report and avoid giving judgement calls based on our personal biases.
@Iqbal Faruqqi
There are no professionally trained Air Transport Officers in Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan. The department itself deals with a variety of subjects like bilateral air services agreements, national and international regulations, economic oversight of air transport industry, and consumer protection. CAA does not formally develop anyone whether within or without as Air Transport Officer. The exists no specific institution in the country. Those who land in Air Transport learn certainbasic rules, from those who they replace, and get on the job. Hence no one from CAA can claim to be technically qualified Air Transport Officer at global level. People may claim to be relatively more experienced than others but the quality of experience itself is highly questionable. This is the reality on grround and this has always been like this in CAA Pakistan.
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