Airlines spare drunk pilots as they are 'precious'

Errant pilots in India mostly escape being disciplined even though some of them report to work drunk during festive seasons.
Apart from the fact that it's not a criminal offence for a pilot to report drunk before a flight in the country, the dearth of experienced pilots means airlines often have to turn a blind eye to the nuisance and let the offenders go off the hook lightly.
" It ( drunk pilots) is an old issue. Our airlines don't want to take action against them as there is a shortage of experienced pilots," a retired pilot said while commenting on an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York getting delayed after one of the four pilots reported to duty inebriated on Monday.
The offender - a commander - failed the pre- flight breath analyser test. The airline managed to replace him at the last moment. The plane took off in the early hours of the morning after a delay of 45 minutes.
Though some pilots in India report to work drunk just after Diwali, Christmas and New Year, the airlines don't take harsh punitive steps against them as they afraid of losing the pilots. " If you are a junior pilot with not much experience, you may be in slight trouble. However, if you are a commander, then the airline concerned mostly ignores it," the retired pilot said.
"A commander has 8,000 to 35,000 hours of experience. He is the only one equipped to fly a Boeing 777 200LR, which can fly from any point in the world to the other for 17 hours at a stretch. So if you discipline or sack him, he can join any other airline within no time," he added.
21/10/09 India Today

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2009, Safety Oct 2009