Multiple airline disasters over the past year have thrust a spotlight on flight safety and pilot training around the world, but a new report on Tuesday revealed that many Indian youths were being given pilots licenses after less than an hour of flying experience.
The report, published by Bloomberg, revealed that dozens of pilots in India were given certificates vastly inflating the number of hours they had supposedly spent learning to fly an aircraft.
“What if I was flying and had an emergency? I wouldn’t even know how or where to land,” 25-year-old Anupam Verma, who only spent 35 minutes in the cockpit but received a certificate saying he had flown for 360 hours, told Bloomberg.
Verma, like many others, was given a $44,000 subsidy by the Indian government to train as a commercial pilot and potentially join one of the country’s ever-expanding budget airlines.
“We’d kill not only the passengers, but we might crash in a village and kill even more people,” he said.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- Jane Fonda Champions Climate Action for Every Generation
- Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?
- Why We're Spending So Much Money Now
- The Financial Influencers Women Actually Want to Listen To
- Breaker Sunny Choi Is Heading to Paris
- Why TV Can’t Stop Making Silly Shows About Lady Journalists
- The Case for Wearing Shoes in the House
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com