The Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday instructed airlines to resume pre-flight alcohol tests for pilots and flight attendants.
In an order issued Friday, DGCA deputy DG Maneesh Kumar said airlines and other aircraft operators “shall ensure flight crew (pilots) and cabin crew member shall undergo preflight BA test.. as per this scheme: For all domestic operations – 10% random pre-flight BA examination shall be carried out per day for their entire operations. For all international operations – 100% pre-flight breath-analyzer examination shall be carried out per day.”
“In a partial amendment to the DGCA regulation … of March 29, 2020, the aim is to convey that the employer / organization must ensure that the flight crew member and the cabin crew member are subjected to a BA test before the flight,” said the supervisory authority in an ordinance of September 4th.
“The above direction / arrangement is purely a temporary measure in view of Covid-19. The restoration of provisions of respective Civil Aviation Requirements on the subject will be reviewed from time to time…. every aviation personnel reporting for duty is required to submit an undertaking in respect of the fact that he/she is not under the influence of alcohol and that he/she has not consumed alcohol/psychoactive substance in last 12 hours from the time of reporting for duty.
The undertaking must also contain a warning that in case of violation of the undertaking, the license/approval will be suspended for a period of three years. The process of submitting undertaking is to be done in presence of medical representative,” it says.
“A 100 percent preflight BA check is to be carried out per day for all international operations,” it continues. The other provisions of the DGCA regulation of March 29 would continue to apply to all aviation personnel who are compulsory for duty.
The ordinance of March 29 stipulates that every aviation personnel must give a promise that they are not under the influence of alcohol and that they have not consumed any alcohol / no psychoactive substance in the last 12 hours from the time of reporting “duty” .
The regulator had determined that violating the obligation submitted by aviation personnel would suspend their license or approval for three years.
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