Pilot derostered for suspected alcohol use

AN Air India pilot-in-command, Captain Saurabh Kumar, was offloaded from the cockpit of his flight at Vancouver International Airport in Canada after a breathalyser test on board revealed that he had consumed a “very high quantity” of alcohol, said sources.

- S LALITHA @New Dethi

The flight, carrying 238 passengers, was about to depart from Canada to Delhi via Vienna when the incident happened. An inquiry into the incident is presently on by both the airline and the DGCA. Flight AI 186, a Boeing 777 aircraft, suffered nearly six-hour delay due to the incident on December 23 evening in Vancouver. The plane took off after an alternative pilot was arranged.

A source familiar with the development told this newspaper, “The Captain in uniform had gone to a duty-free shop inside the Vancouver airport to purchase alcohol when the shop manager noticed him already in an inebriated state. She immediately alerted the aviation authorities at the airport. He had meanwhile joined his colleagues in the cockpit. Since this is a long haul flight, it has two sets of flight captains and two flying officers on duty.” Another source said the airport authorities went to the flight which was in the bay and identified the pilot. “He was asked to blow into the alcometer breathalyser.