DGCA suspends chopper pilot's license, removes airline pilot from flight duty

New Delhi, Aug 26

Aviation regulator DGCA has suspended, for a period of six months, the license of a helicopter pilot, involved in an incident while landing on an offshore platform.

The helicopter had descended below the desired flight path during approach for landing on the helideck.

A DGCA official said that this was also brought to the notice of pilot in-command (PIC) by the first officer. The PIC took corrective action, however, in the process, the horizontal stabiliser of the helicopter hit the edge of the helideck. It came out that the pilot had exceeded the maximum takeoff weight and maximum landing weight of the helicopter during the operation of incident flight.

In another case, a pilot of a prominent airline was subjected to a drug test at Delhi in accordance with CAR Section 5 Series F Part V. He has been found positive in the confirmatory test report received on August 23 and was subsequently removed from the flight duty.

Recently, the aviation regulator had penalised an air traffic controller at the Delhi airport after he tested positive for a psychoactive substance.

As per the rules, airline crew members including pilots and air navigation service providers have to carry out random drug-testing of at least 10 per cent of the flight crew members and air traffic controllers employed by them every year.