Aviation Regulator Proposes Alcohol Test For Flight Crew At Transit Airports

Pilots and crew members might soon be required to undergo breath alcohol tests at transit airports in case they enter the terminal building during flight duty, according to draft norms issued by the aviation regulator.

The Director General of Civil Aviation has proposed changes to the 'Procedure for medical examination of aircraft personnel for alcohol consumption' after over 500 pilots and cabin crew of Air India allegedly skipped the mandatory pre-and post-flight alcohol tests this year.

A pilot's licence could be suspended for up to four years, subject to certain conditions, in case of repeated violation of breathalyser test norms, according to the draft guidelines.

The quantum of punishment for the violations now varies from three months to cancellation of a pilot's licence to grounding of the cabin crew.

"For all scheduled flights originating from India, each flight crew member and cabin crew member shall be subjected to pre-flight breath analyser examination at first departure airport during a flight duty period," the draft documents said.

In case a crew member operates a flight without undergoing the pre-flight breath analyser examination, the chief of operations of the airline concerned has to ensure the "the involved crew member is off-rostered at the first point of landing and same is reported to DGCA...," it goes on say.

A DGCA source said that over a period of time, it was felt that the management should also be held responsible if there are lapses.

According to existing norms, in case a crew member tests positive in the pre-flight breath analyser test, the individual would be suspended for three months. Similar is the quantum if the crew member refuses to undergo or attempts to evade post-flight test.

Now, DGCA has proposed linking violation of pre-flight and post-flight violations. If a crew member tests positive during pre-flight test or evades it and later, in another instance, evades a post-flight test, the individual would face suspension for three years.

The source said the attempt is to ensure more clarity in the rules as very often it was contested that skipping a post-flight has no bearing on evasion of a pre-flight offence.

"This is just to ensure that there is no iota of doubt. Often violators say they misunderstood the rules so we are making them very clear," said the source.