NEW DELHI: Air India senior pilot Arvind Kathpalia was grounded minutes before he was to fly over 200 passengers from New Delhi to London. He was found positive in a pre-flight breath analyser (BA) test and declared 'not fit to fly'.
56-year-old Arvind Kathpalia, a second-time offender who was booked in August for a similar offence, reportedly faces licence suspension for three years.
Indian media, citing airline officials, revealed that the London-bound AI 111 was delayed after its captain Kathpalia, who is also the director of Air India’s flight operations, was found with more alcohol in his bloodstream than the permissible limit.
As per the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the level of blood alcohol compatible (BAC) with safe flying is ‘zero’, while Kathpalia was reportedly declared unfit to fly as he had 007% BAC.
According to reports, the airline got the test results at around 1:30 pm, a little over an hour before departure, and had to scramble to get another pilot to fly the Boeing 787 that goes non-stop to London’s Heathrow International airport.
Meanwhile, another Air India flight, AI 332, from New Delhi to Bangkok was also reportedly forced to turn back less than half an hour after departure because the airline staff realised that the one of its pilots skipped his mandatory medical tests.
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