Government to Restrict Pilot Licenses
12 October 2013 15:02 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation is expected to restrict the issuance of pilot-in-command license in the country. Pilot in command is the one who has a flying hour of more than 1,000 hours. The reason behind the restriction is because several foreign pilots allegedly faked their flying hours data.
"The forgery of the flying hours data has become an indication that the restriction of the issuance of the license is important to be done," said Hea of the Public Communication of the Ministry of Transportation, Bambang S. Ervan to Tempo, Friday, 11 October 2013.
Bambang explained that the actions of those foreign pilots who hold Indonesian licenses are the responsibility of the Indonesian government, even if they work for airlines outside Indonesia later on.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Transportation admitted that they found foreign pilots in Indonesia who faked their flying hours data but it declined to mentioned the name of those pilots and the airline they work for.
The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) categorizes two types of pilot, the ready-to-use one and those who have undergo a training to obtain a rating license. The INACA Secretary General said that the airlines usually have difficulty with the expense and time needed if they have to send the pilots to undergo such training. Therefore, he added, in order to meet the need for pilot, the airlines resort to recruiting foreign pilots and said that almost all airlines in Indonesia recruit foreign pilots.
MARIA YUNIAR