Concern over quality of Indian pilots' training

New Delhi

ANUPAM Verma has a certificate that shows he has flown an aircraft for 360 hours. He says that he got it after sitting in the co-pilot's seat for just 35 minutes.

He's one of dozens of pilots in the country who obtained certificates showing inflated flying hours and ground training, according to court documents and interviews with pilots, regulators and industry analysts. The son of a poor farmer, Mr Verma, 25, was given a 2.8 million-rupee (S$59,400) subsidy by the Indian government to learn to fly a commercial jet.