Now Reading: Air India to drug-test all 5,000 pilots after Phuket incident
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Air India to drug-test all 5,000 pilots after Phuket incident
Air India and Air India Express will start mandatory psychoactive substance testing for all 5,000-plus pilots from Thursday, following an incident where the pilot of a Phuket-Delhi flight tested positive for marijuana.…
The Story in Brief
Air India and Air India Express will start mandatory psychoactive substance testing for all 5,000-plus pilots from Thursday, following an incident where the pilot of a Phuket-Delhi flight tested positive for marijuana. The August 4 flight on an Airbus A320 suddenly lost 300 feet of altitude mid-air, injuring 24 of the 145 people on board.
The testing will be conducted at airline facilities including the Gurugram academy, flight briefing centres and bases. The Tata Group-owned carriers said the proactive move aims to ensure the highest safety standards and reassure passengers. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) framework currently relies on pre-recruitment and random checks, but experts quoted by The Federal say the incident exposes gaps in the system.
The Indian Opinion
Some narratives blame the pilot alone, but the real story is a regulatory system that let a trained professional on psychoactive substances fly a packed aircraft. Air India's full screening is welcome, but without stronger random checks and independent oversight by the DGCA, one-off sweeps will not fix the culture. The test now: will the DGCA mandate similar tests across all airlines and increase the annual random screening quota?
Sources (2): rediff.com, thefederal.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
