Looks like the alcohol problem has gone to the top at Air India:
Feb 10 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
AI grounds top pilot for `skipping' booze tests
New Delhi:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
He Was In Charge Of 1,500 Pilots
Air India's executive director (operations), who is in charge of the airline's 1,500-odd pilots, has been grounded for allegedly skipping the mandatory preflight breath analyser (BA) test on some flights this January. This test is conducted to ensure that only perfectly sober pilots fly planes.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed AI on Wednesday night to immediately ground captain Arvind Kathpalia, also one of AI's seniormost pilots.
“AI ED (operations) has been de-rostered based on a preliminary (probe) report of the airline. They have been asked to expedite submission of final report along with evidence to the DGCA. The grounding is pending inquiry. Final action will be taken after getting the final probe report from AI,“ a senior DGCA official said. Based on the DGCA order, AI issued instructions to ground the pilot. The airline did not give a comment till the time of filing this story.
A pilot is grounded for three months, three years and forever after failing pre-flight BA test for the first, second and third time, respectively. Those failing the BA tests in postflight checks get a year added to these groundings. Any pilot who skips the pre-flight BA test is presumed to have flunked it, or tested positive for alcohol content. If the final probe report finds the ED (operations) guilty of skipping the test multiple times, he could be grounded for a long time. Kathpalia has been senior flight operations inspector in DGCA and operates VVIP flights.
AI had last Monday set up a panel to examine the complaint against Kathpalia that he had allegedly evaded the mandatory BA tests more than once in January. The complaint was made by the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association ( union of erstwhile Indian Airlines' pilots).
The Times Group
From the Hindustan Times:
Last year, the HT had reported that at least one pilot tested positive every two days between January and June in 2016. The DGCA data revealed that such safety lapses almost tripled from 69 cases in 2011 to 186 in 2015.
Senior Air India pilot banned from flying after skipping alcohol test | mumbai news | Hindustan Times