Thursday, July 12, 2012

They listened to us, in part

The recent decision of the DGCA to imprison drunken pilots is something that we suggest a year back, but DGCA needs to read us again, properly!

At last, the Indian aviation ministry did it. After much talk and criticism, the ministry has decided to inculcate a policy of zero tolerance on safety issues through a new set of rules for punishing drunk pilots. As per recent amendments to the Aircraft Act’s Rule 24, drunk pilots will now face one year jail or fine up to Rs.5 lakh instead of just being prohibited from operating their flight if they fail in pre-flight breath tests. Interestingly, this amendment came after an year of B&E’s Scrutiny article titled “Drunk pilots should be jailed” (B&E issue dated 30/09/2010), in which imprisonment was demanded for all drunk pilots.

Earlier, tipsy pilots would get suspended for three months if they were found drunk for the first time and would be suspended forever for the second time.




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