Drunk and fake pilots in India

Flying in India has become a joke recently with airline authorities catching 57 pilots over the alcohol limit in the past two years, but only 11 lost their jobs and rest got away with punishments, according to the Times of India. The country’s largest airline, Jet-JetLite, boasted the most boozers, with as many as 23 drunk pilots, none of whom lost their jobs. In response to the news, the country’s Directorate of Civil Aviation has instituted new rules requiring intoxicated pilots to be grounded for three months on first offense and to lose their licence forever after the second.

This is as disturbing as another investigation that found at least four Indian pilots flying with fake qualifications. One pilot was arrested after damaging a plane during a rough landing. Subsequent inspection found that the pilot had used fake documents to obtain her license. Authorities are now in the process of verifying the qualifications of 4,000 pilots. But until then, taking the train is a good idea!