{"id":1045,"date":"2026-08-12T22:24:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:24:42","slug":"govt-asks-air-india-to-take-responsibility-tells-dgca-to-improve-dope-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=1045","title":{"rendered":"Govt asks Air India to \u2018take responsibility\u2019, tells DGCA to improve dope checks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133192938,imgsize-1756694,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/air-india.jpg\" alt=\"Govt asks Air India to \u2018take responsibility\u2019, tells DGCA to improve dope checks\" title=\"The anger stems from the fact that AI 2379 may have narrowly avoided a disaster\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"The anger stems from the fact that AI 2379 may have narrowly avoided a disaster\">The anger stems from the fact that AI 2379 may have narrowly avoided a disaster<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: Govt has warned Air India to improve its oversight on operations and \u201ctake responsibility\u201d for ensuring safety. The aviation ministry has also ordered DGCA to quickly revise its drug-testing rules and increase the percentage of personnel who must undergo mandatory testing.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>The govt has also directed the aviation regulator to enforce tougher penalties against those testing positive for \u201creal\u201d drugs, while giving additional chances to those whose positive results stem from medicines.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>The pilot-in-command of Air India\u2019s badly rattled Aug 4 Phuket-Delhi flight with 145 people onboard is learnt to have told investigators he had been prescribed sleeping pills due to personal problems which, he claims, led to the positive dope tests. <!-- -->His onboard behaviour is also underthe scanner after the cabin crew complained against him.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\"\/>\u201cThe final report of AI\u2019s last June Ahmedabad crash in which 260 people lost their lives is not yet out and then something like this happens with Air India. Govt has taken a very serious view of what happened on AI 2379 and heads will roll. Aviation secretary Samir Sinha has told the AI brass in clear terms that the airline needs to take responsibility and that people found guilty by the probe will not be spared,\u201d said a person familiar with the discussions.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>The anger stems from the fact that AI 2379 may have narrowly avoided a disaster. While cruising near Odisha, the aircraft reportedly got a series of warnings \u2014 many in quick succession \u2014 related to the three hydraulics systems, doors and elevator (which makes an aircraft ascend and descend). Autopilot had also tripped off. It had suffered a loss of altitude during cruise, injuring many on board.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/>An Airbus team is in India to examine the reported issues along with officials of the French aviation regulator, with Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau probing whether these warnings were real or spurious and what had caused them. <!-- -->Pilots want Airbus to give a detailed explanation of the same. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>\u201cTaking pilot-in-command\u2019s alleged state and the multiple warnings, we compliment the co-pilot for ensuring the aircraft landed safely. This incident will lead to multiple changes to strengthen safety,\u201d said a senior govt official.<\/p>\n<div class=\"LEzX4\">\n<div class=\"PmOGb\">\n<p class=\"PSf84\">Share your thoughts in the comments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Insightful<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Agree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Disagree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Skeptical<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Concerning<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Promising<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Worth Reading<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Big Development<\/button><\/p>\n<p><textarea class=\"T9MbS\" rows=\"1\" placeholder=\"Add your Thoughts...\"\/><button type=\"button\" class=\"ZW6JD \" disabled=\"\">Post Comment<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"swnca\">Be respectful \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatimes.com\/termsandcondition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"gkv0P\">TOI community guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>Many pilots feel the warnings \u201cshould have been\u201d false as there was no way an aircraft suffering multiple whammies could have flown uneventfully for about two hours to land safely at its destination instead of the crew opting to land at the nearest airport.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Dope test changes<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>Senior pilots say there is a problem with the DGCA\u2019s civil aviation requirement on the subject titled \u201cprocedure for examination of the aviation personnel for consumption of psychoactive substances\u201d as it treats crew members testing positive due to taking some medicines the same as those who are addicted to \u201creal\u201d drugs or take them recreationally.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/govt-asks-air-india-to-take-responsibility-tells-dgca-to-improve-dope-checks\/articleshow\/133192934.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The anger stems from the fact that AI 2379 may have narrowly avoided a disaster NEW DELHI: Govt has warned Air India to improve its oversight on operations and &ldquo;take responsibility&rdquo; for ensuring safety. The aviation ministry has also ordered DGCA to quickly revise its drug-testing rules and increase the percentage of personnel who must [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}