Air India Terminated the Pilot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter the AAIB report was released, Air India said it had terminated the pilot’s employment with immediate effect under its zero-tolerance approach to violations involving safety, fitness or regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The airline had already begun its own broader testing programme, covering pilots across Air India and Air India Express.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Existing Rules Test 10% Each Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nUnder the existing DGCA framework, airlines are required to conduct random psychoactive-substance tests on 10% of pilots and air traffic controllers annually<\/strong>, along with testing requirements covering other safety-sensitive personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe new one-time exercise therefore represents a substantial expansion in the number of pilots being tested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials have indicated that testing across airlines has already started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government Considering Annual Testing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nCivil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu<\/strong> has also said the government is working on stricter rules for testing pilots for psychoactive substances.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe DGCA is expected to finalise a draft amendment to the drug-testing rules by the end of September<\/strong>. The proposed framework could move India towards more comprehensive and regular testing rather than relying primarily on the current random-testing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Happens If a Pilot Tests Positive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nUnder existing procedures, a positive screening result leads to further testing and medical review, including checks to determine whether a result could have been caused by legitimate medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A pilot who tests positive is removed from flying duties while the result is confirmed and the case is reviewed under the applicable regulatory framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stricter approach is intended to ensure that pilots operating commercial aircraft are fit to fly and are not impaired by psychoactive substances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Wider Aviation-Safety Push<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe DGCA’s decision comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of aviation safety in India. The regulator’s focus is not only on individual pilots but also on strengthening systems that identify potential safety risks before they affect flight operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The one-time nationwide testing exercise is therefore likely to be followed by broader changes to the rules governing psychoactive-substance testing across the aviation sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary:<\/strong> The DGCA has ordered one-time psychoactive-substance testing for all airline pilots<\/strong>, with the current exercise to be completed by July 2027<\/strong>. The decision follows the Air India Phuket-Delhi incident in which the pilot-in-command tested positive for a psychoactive substance. India currently requires annual random testing of 10% of pilots, but the government is considering moving towards a stricter, more comprehensive testing regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Indian Airline Pilots to Undergo Drug Testing The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed airlines to conduct one-time psychoactive-substance tests for all pilots, significantly expanding India’s existing drug-testing regime for flight crews. The testing exercise is already underway and has to be completed by July 31, 2027, according to officials. The move […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1313764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[271,226],"class_list":["post-1313757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-ai","tag-pilots"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All Indian Airline Pilots to Undergo Drug Testing The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed airlines to conduct one-time psychoactive-substance tests for all pilots, significantly expanding India’s existing drug-testing regime for flight crews. The testing exercise is already underway and has to be completed by July 31, 2027, according to officials. The move […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T01:01:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T01:01:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"812\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"377\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/\",\"name\":\"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T01:01:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-11T01:01:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5092a7d2906e3f3c819643435477c2a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg\",\"width\":812,\"height\":377},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/\",\"name\":\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups\",\"description\":\"Trak.in is a popular Indian Business, Technology, Mobile & Startup blog featuring trending News, views and analytical take on Technology, Business, Finance, Telecom, Mobile, startups & Social Media Space\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5092a7d2906e3f3c819643435477c2a7\",\"name\":\"Mohul Ghosh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66c129d83dd3f325a3b550eb1aa16891173ddfc4686361424206cd9a01311c89?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66c129d83dd3f325a3b550eb1aa16891173ddfc4686361424206cd9a01311c89?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mohul Ghosh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/author\/mohul-ghosh\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups","og_description":"All Indian Airline Pilots to Undergo Drug Testing The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed airlines to conduct one-time psychoactive-substance tests for all pilots, significantly expanding India’s existing drug-testing regime for flight crews. The testing exercise is already underway and has to be completed by July 31, 2027, according to officials. The move […]","og_url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/","og_site_name":"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups","article_published_time":"2026-09-11T01:01:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-11T01:01:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":812,"height":377,"url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mohul Ghosh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mohul Ghosh","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/","name":"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-09-11T01:01:46+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-11T01:01:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5092a7d2906e3f3c819643435477c2a7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg","width":812,"height":377},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/dgca-orders-one-time-drug-tests-for-all-airline-pilots\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DGCA Orders One-Time Drug Tests for All Airline Pilots"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/","name":"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile & Startups","description":"Trak.in is a popular Indian Business, Technology, Mobile & Startup blog featuring trending News, views and analytical take on Technology, Business, Finance, Telecom, Mobile, startups & Social Media Space","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5092a7d2906e3f3c819643435477c2a7","name":"Mohul Ghosh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66c129d83dd3f325a3b550eb1aa16891173ddfc4686361424206cd9a01311c89?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/66c129d83dd3f325a3b550eb1aa16891173ddfc4686361424206cd9a01311c89?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mohul Ghosh"},"url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/author\/mohul-ghosh\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313765,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313757\/revisions\/1313765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1313764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"DGCA](\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-23.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n