AI director fails pre-flight alcohol test, grounded

New Delhi: The aviation regulator DGCA on Monday suspended the pilot licence of Air India’s Director (Operations) Capt. A.K. Kathpalia for a period of three years after he failed a pre-flight breath-analyser test for alcohol consumption on Sunday in New Delhi. The licence suspension is for three years as Capt. Kathpalia had already allegedly committed a related offence earlier, that of skipping his breathanalyser test on a previous occasion last year.

The DGCA had then, in February, 2017, suspended his licence for three months.

According to rules, if a pilot fails the breath-analyser test or misses a breath-analyser test, the suspension of licence is for three months but if he either fails the test twice or fails it once and misses it on the second occasion, the licence suspension is for three years. If the pilot fails the test thrice, his licence is cancelled.

On Monday, DGCA sources said, “In case of Capt. Kathpalia being detected (Breath-analyser) BA positive (for alcohol-consumption) on November 11, 2018, the privileges of his licence have been suspended for a period of three years from 11.11.2018 as per the provisions of applicable regulations.”

According to news agency reports earlier on Sunday, Capt. Kathpalia failed to clear the pre-flight breath-analyser test before he was to operate an Air India flight from New Delhi to London on Sunday afternoon following which he was immediately grounded by the national carrier.

Air India sources said that as of now, Capt. Kathpalia would continue to perform only administrative duties as director (operations) till further orders and would not be operating flights. Incidentally, he is also on the airline’s board of directors.  

Rules of aviation regulator DGCA state, “As per the provision of Rule 24 of the Aircraft Rules, ‘no person acting as, or carried in aircraft for the purpose of acting as pilot, commander, navigator, engineer, cabin crew or the other operating member of the crew thereof, shall have taken or used any alcoholic drink, sedative, narcotic, or stimulant drug preparation within 12 hours of the commencement of the flight or taken or use any such preparation in the course of the flight... .”

Pre-flight alcohol consumption or consumption during flight as per the above rules is not allowed since it jeopardises air-safety.

As DGCA rules point out, “Alcohol present in the body even in small quantities jeopardises flight safety on several counts and is likely to adversely affect an aviator well into the hangover period. ... Consumption of alcohol results in significant deterioration of psychomotor performance and decreases the amount of mental capacity available to deal with many essential tasks involved in the conduct of safe flight. Should an emergency occur in-flight, the crew member under the influence of alcohol is not capable of dealing with the problem.”