New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday suspended the pilot licence of of Air India’s Director (Operations) Captain A.K. Kathpalia for a period of three years after he failed a pre-flight breath-analyser test for alcohol consumption on Sunday in New Delhi.
The licence suspension is for three years since Mr Kathpalia had already allegedly committed a related offence earlier—that of skipping his breathalyser test on a previous occasion last year. The DGCA had then, in February, 2017, suspended his licence for three months.
As per rules, if a pilot either fails the breath-analyser test positive or misses a breath-analyser test, the suspension of licence is for three months, but if he either fails the test twice or fails it once and misses it on another, the licence suspension is for three years.
If the pilot fails the test thrice, his licence is cancelled. On Monday, DGCA sources said, “In case of Mr Kathpalia being dete-cted (Breath-analyser) BA positive (for alcohol-consumption) on November 11, 2018, the privileges of his licence have been suspended for a period of three years from 11.11.2018 as per the provisions of applicable regulations.”
According to reports Mr Kathpalia on Sunday failed to clear pre-flight test.
