On Thursday, January 28, K24 Digital ran a story of a Kenyan pilot who transported Kenyans for eight years after cheating the education system to land the job.
The youthful man, who is in court for forgery, is alleged to have altered his KCSE certificate to meet an impressive grade -- B+ (Plus) -- to suggest he has the mental acuity of taking up the job.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has now written to the DCI, revealing that the said-pilot was not licensed by the regulator to fly a commercial flight. K24 Digital has, exclusively, obtained the letter.
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“Reference is made to your letter dated January 25, 2021 seeking clarification on the license of [name withheld],” said KCAA in their letter to the DCI.
“[Name withheld], a holder of Kenyan Identification Card Number [hidden] applied for and was issued a Student Pilot License (SPL) number [hidden] on August 8, 2011. The Student Pilot License expired on July 28, 2013,” said KCAA.
The regulator said it does not play any part in verifying the documents submitted to it by an aviation school. The agency said the onus is on the aviation school to do its due diligence while vetting its students’ eligibility.
“KCAA has issued a legal framework in the form of the Kenya Civil Aviation Regulations (KCARs) as well as the Aeronautical Information Circulars (AICs) that organizations, among them approved training organizations as well as personnel are required to adhere to,” said KCAA in its letter to the DCI.
“Documents used in the verification and approval of course can be provided by the institution where the applicant attended training.”
After the “quack” pilot’s student license expired on July 28, 2013, there was no attempt of renewing the learner’s license, or getting an operating license, KCAA said.
Nevertheless, the suspect went ahead to land employment as a pilot with one of the airlines operating domestically. The criteria used by the suspect’s employer to give him eight years of flying time, without legitimate qualifications, remains unclear.
K24 Digital obtained a copy of the pilot’s expired license.
“KCAA acknowledges that this license shall entitle the holder to fly as pilot in command of an aircraft for the purpose of becoming qualified for the grant of renewal of a pilot’s license. This license shall be valid only for flights within Kenya. The license shall not entitle the holder to fly as a pilot in command of an aircraft in which any person is carried.
“This license shall be valid only for flights conducted in accordance with instructions given by a person holding a valid pilot’s license,” says the rules written on the student pilot’s license.
K24 Digital understands that the suspect might have flown passengers to far-off land such as Mogadishu, Somalia, given his employer says the airline is licensed to fly to the Horn of Africa city.
The suspect will be produced in court in the first quarter of 2021.
A DCI detective privy to the case says he has written to the college located in Nairobi, where the suspect studied, to find out whether he completed his education at the school.
