Altitude and attitude: How DGCA makes sure high-flying pilots don’t fly high

Prisha Patnaik is a journalist with The Times of India, writing across geopolitics, international affairs, culture, history and internet culture. With over two years of experience in social media and digital content, she is interested in how news, politics and culture are shaped for digital audiences.

She holds a master’s degree in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths, University of London. NewsIndia NewsAltitude and attitude: How DGCA makes sure high-flying pilots don’t fly high Altitude and attitude: How DGCA makes sure high-flying pilots don’t fly high How India’s aviation regulator is tightening the net on pilots and crew to ensure those trusted with thousands of lives are fit to fly.

(AI-generated image) There is something inherently unsettling about flying. Thirty thousand feet above the ground, hundreds of passengers sit inside a pressurised metal tube travelling at hundreds of kilometres per hour, trusting a handful of people with their lives for the duration of the journey.

Yet every day, millions of us make this decision without thinking twice.And then, once in a blue moon, an incident happens that makes us pause and wonder just how much we can actually trust those handful of people.On August 4, an Air India A320 flying from Phuket to Delhi was cruising at 36,000 feet when it suddenly climbed 372 feet before dropping nearly 300 feet.

Twenty-four people on board, including passengers and crew, were injured badly enough to require hospitalisation. Twenty were discharged shortly afterwards, while four sustained serious injuries and remained hospitalised for further treatment.

Many passengers also took to social media and spoke to news reporters about how frightening the experience had been. A preliminary report shows that, over those eight seconds, the aircraft lost all three of its hydraulic systems and the autopilot disengaged.

The hydraulic systems recovered within seconds, and the aircraft subsequently landed normally. On the surface, it was a technical failure. But a second finding in the incident became the headline across news outlets.As part of the standard procedure following such incidents, the crew is tested on various parameters to ensure that investigators have a complete picture of what happened.

In this case, both pilots underwent the mandatory psychoactive-substance test after arriving in Delhi, a requirement for flights originating outside India.The co-pilot’s sample came back negative twice. The pilot-in-command’s report, however, raised concerns.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report used the term ‘non-negative’ to describe both the screening test and the confirmatory laboratory report.<div data-pos="0" class="id-r-component iIpbx undefined What was reported as ‘positive’ in headlines was not, in fact, the language used in the report.

In aviation investigations, that distinction matters. The AAIB’s responsibility is not to point fingers, but to establish what happened and identify measures that can prevent a recurrence.The preliminary report does not conclude that substance use caused the hydraulic failure.

It does, however, flag a serious concern regarding psychoactive substances and recommends that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) take appropriate action.The DGCA is the apex regulatory body responsible for overseeing safety standards in civil aviation.

Its rulebook is extensive and is regularly revised to address emerging risks and ensure that flying remains safe for passengers and crew.Alcohol testing has been mandatory since the mid-2000s. The framework was built around Rule 24 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, which originally required that crew members not consume alcohol within 12 hours of a flight.

The rule has since been revised several times. A 2023 revision, for instance, warned that medicines and other substances containing alcohol could trigger a breathalyser reading, specifically citing products such as mouthwash and tooth gel.

Crew members taking medication are required to consult their company doctor before flying.<div data-pos="0" class="id-r-component iIpbx undefined For scheduled operators, flight and cabin crew are subject to pre-flight breathalyser testing at the first departure airport during a duty period.

For flights originating outside India, post-flight testing is required at the first Indian airport of landing.Being fit to fly is a regulatory requirement. But while the rules around alcohol have been in place for decades, psychoactive substances present a more complicated challenge.Drug testing is relatively new.

The DGCA introduced the framework based on a 2019 report by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which estimated that 2.8% of Indians had used cannabis in the previous year and 2.1% had used opioids. From 2019 to 2026, these numbers have only increased.These figures should not be taken as evidence that aviation personnel use drugs.

Rather, they indicate the potential scale of the threat that the misuse of psychoactive substances can pose to aviation safety.What happens when a pilot gets tested for drugs? The drug-testing system applies to flight crew and air traffic controllers.

Testing is required before employment, following accidents, through random checks and as follow-up in previously confirmed cases.Random testing is currently designed to cover at least 10% of an organisation’s employees each year at specified airports.

The testing panel is broad, covering substances including amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, opioids, benzodiazepines, marijuana/hashish, MDMA and several others.The system is also designed around confirmation, rather than treating an initial screening result as conclusive.

It is consequently more time- and resource-intensive than an alcohol test.<div data-pos="0" class="id-r-component iIpbx undefined The Phuket incident has already prompted the regulator to widen that net.The DGCA has directed Indian airlines to conduct a one-time...