Govt mulls drug tests for all commercial pilots

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry is looking at the possibility of carrying out psychoactive substance tests for all commercial pilots round the year on a random basis.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is holding discussions with stakeholders on further strengthening the drug-testing standards of pilots.

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"Right now, the rules say 10 percent (drug tests) across the overall pilot network, but just like I said, DGCA is engaging (with stakeholders)... One of the opinions from our side is that everyone has to go through it (drug tests) the (whole) year at a random time.

"So, we have to see how all the stakeholders are going to respond to this," the minister said.

The issue of possible substance use by pilots has come under spotlight after the captain of a Phuket-Delhi Air India flight, involved in a sudden altitude loss incident, was tested positive for marijuana.

Currently, drug tests for pilots are done on a random basis. Under DGCA's present Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), random tests for psychoactive substances have to be done for 10 percent of pilots and air traffic controllers, among others, annually.

Naidu on Tuesday said the regulator DGCA is currently consulting stakeholders to review the existing rules and bring in a stricter policy for the future.

"There are multiple ways of approaching this dope test (thing)," the minister said, responding to queries related to psychoactive substance testing for pilots, on the sidelines of an event in the national capital.

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There are more than 12,000 pilots with various commercial airlines.

In the wake of the Phuket-Delhi flight incident, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on August 18, urged DGCA to consider oral fluid testing as a complementary method along with the existing urine-based screening under its drug testing framework.

FIP had also sought increasing the random drug testing for pilots and other personnel to 25 percent from the current 10 percent.

Meanwhile, Air India and Air India Express have also started mandatory psychoactive substance testing of all their pilots.

Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is probing the Phuket-Delhi flight incident that occurred on August 4 as per Annexure 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It pertains to aircraft accident and incident investigation.

The Phuket-Delhi flight AI2379, operated with A320 aircraft VT-EXO, experienced a sudden loss of altitude of approximately 300 feet during cruise, after which the aircraft stabilised and subsequently landed safely in the national capital.

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