High and Fly: A threat to the travellers

When it comes to travel, people these days have shifted their preference to airplanes rather than going for the traditional carriage—railways. While there are a number of reasons for this shift of option, the primary one is the time saving nature of the airways. These days there are a number of flight options to choose from and the choice depends mainly upon the flight rates and flight safety.

While every airline ensures safety and security to all its passengers, it seems that offlate the safety of the air passengers have gone for a toss. According to latest Lok Sabha reports, ten pilots were found tipsy in pre-flight checks and have been grounded in the first six months of this year. According to reports, since 2011, a total of 99 pilots, including the 10, have been grounded for testing positive in the pre-flight medical examination for alcohol consumption. While 17 of them tested positive in 2011, the number shot up to 41 in 2012, 31 in 2013 and 10 till July 14 this year.

India’s aviation safety ranking has been recently downgraded, but what comes as a shocker to the commoners is the fact that the authorities are not shying away from relaxing the norms for drunk flying. According to a TOI report, a pilot will now lose his or her flying licence only when caught flying in an inebriated state for the third time. Earlier, this fate would befall them on the second instance itself. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) diluted the punishment for flight crew reporting to work high in the recent past when it issued a new civil aviation requirement (CAR) on alcohol consumption.

Well it seems the safety of the passengers have now taken a backseat, while our very own ‘HIGH’-flyers can continue raising a toast to the skies.