NEW DELHI: A tipsy Air India pilot’s desire to fly from Delhi to Bengaluru on Saturday — as a passenger and not operating a flight — has proved to be an expensive mistake for him and landed India’s aviation regulatory system in unchartered territories. The flight this captain wanted to travel on was full and he opted to go as an additional crew member (ACM) where he would be seated in the cockpit behind the operating crew seats.
However since was headed to the cockpit, this pilot had to undergo the mandatory pre-flight breath analyser which he flunked. As a result, he was not allowed to travel and a senior AI official said the pilot will be grounded for three months as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules.
“But frankly this is new territory and a grey area for all of us. The pilot who flunked the breath analyser test was not supposed to fly the plane and he would have been seated on the third seat (behind operating crew seats) in the cockpit.
