New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation is looking at the possibility of conducting random psychoactive substance tests on all commercial pilots throughout the year. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu Tuesday said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is holding discussions with stakeholders on further strengthening the drug-testing standards of pilots. “Right now, the rules say 10 per cent (drug tests) across the overall pilot network, but just like I said, DGCA is engaging (with stakeholders)… One of the opinions from our side is that everyone has to go through it (drug tests) the (whole) year at a random time.
So, we have to see how all the stakeholders are going to respond to this,” the minister said. The issue of possible substance use by pilots has come under spotlight after the captain of a Phuket-Delhi Air India flight, involved in a sudden altitude loss incident, tested positive for marijuana. Currently, drug tests for pilots are done on a random basis. Under DGCA’s present Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), random tests for psychoactive substances have to be done for 10 per cent of pilots and air traffic controllers, among others, annually. There are more than 12,000 pilots with various commercial airlines.