DGCA to make drug test a must for pilots, crew members

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released a draft procedure that calls for testing pilots, other aviation personnel and crew members for psychoactive substances before they take to the skies. The Indian civil aviation regulator has sought comments from stakeholders over the next 30 days before issuing a regulation to this effect.

Asking airlines and airports to do random checks on crew and air traffic controllers, DGCA proposed that violators be suspended for a minimum of three years or their licence be permanently cancelled as maximum punishment. The proposed rules are similar to those prescribed by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Europe introduced rules for screening pilots for psychoactive substances in 2018 following the Eurowings crash of 2015, which killed 150 people. Accident investigators had concluded that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the Airbus A320 into the Alps.