Mumbai: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has grounded 18 pilots flying top politicians, including members of the Gandhi family, Sharad Pawar and Gopinath Munde, for obtaining alcohol-free certificates from doctors who have no equipment to conduct such tests.
The grounded pilots belong to 14 private jet operators, including GMR, Span Air, Orbit Aviation, Bhaskar Group, Pune-based Poonawala, Pune-based B G Shirke Group, Formula 1, Tata-owned Business Jets India, Pune-based Bharat Forge, Raymond's, Air Airways, Ahmedabad-based Zest Aviation, Invision Air and Reliance Commercial Dealers Association. Sources in the DGCA said officials found these pilots were not undergoing breathalyser tests on certified Alco-Sensor 4 instruments before flying. All the pilots instead had certificates from in-house doctors, clearing them for flying, but using a checking system not accepted by DGCA.
The Alco-Sensor IV is a handheld breath alcohol tester which, using fuel cells, provides a simple, accurate and economical method of determining the alcohol concentration in a person's breath.
21/04/14 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
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The grounded pilots belong to 14 private jet operators, including GMR, Span Air, Orbit Aviation, Bhaskar Group, Pune-based Poonawala, Pune-based B G Shirke Group, Formula 1, Tata-owned Business Jets India, Pune-based Bharat Forge, Raymond's, Air Airways, Ahmedabad-based Zest Aviation, Invision Air and Reliance Commercial Dealers Association. Sources in the DGCA said officials found these pilots were not undergoing breathalyser tests on certified Alco-Sensor 4 instruments before flying. All the pilots instead had certificates from in-house doctors, clearing them for flying, but using a checking system not accepted by DGCA.
The Alco-Sensor IV is a handheld breath alcohol tester which, using fuel cells, provides a simple, accurate and economical method of determining the alcohol concentration in a person's breath.
21/04/14 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
