Cracking the whip on tipsy pilots, the civil aviation regulator has cancelled the flying licence of the commander of a private airline for five years.
“Action has been taken as per the new Civil Aviation Requirement, which says that the licence of the first-time offender will be suspended for three months and if caught the second-time, his licence would be suspended for five years,” DGCA chief, Mr E.K. Bharat Bhushan, said.
Flight crew are not allowed to drink 12 hours before operating flights.
The captain had failed the pre-flight breath analyser test twice. Earlier, his licence was suspended for three months after the alcohol level was found higher than the permissible limit in his breath.
Recently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had suspended the flying licence of a senior pilot of national carrier Air India after he failed the pre-flight breath analyser test.
In January, 12 pilots and a cabin crew — four commanders including one of Air India and eight air-hostesses — were found tipsy at work. All of them failed the new Alco Sensor-IV breath analyser mandated by the DGCA.
After inspection at various airports, the DGCA has found that results from commonly used breath analyser — Alco-Sensor III — were not satisfactory.
“We have asked the airlines to use advanced breath analyser, Alco-Sensor IV, to conduct pre-flight checks. I have ordered for strictest possible action against such persons. We have been conducting regular checks. We will also be conducting surprise checks, to stop such practices,” Mr Bhushan said
The Alco-Sensor IV is a handheld breath alcohol tester which provides a simple, accurate and economical method of determining alcohol concentration in a person’s breath with evidential grade accuracy.