--- title: Pilot Suspended for Failing Booze Test an Hour Before Flight description: India’s aviation regulator pulled a pilot scheduled to fly the Delhi-London route after he failed an alcohol test an hour before the flight. canonical: https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-12T17:55:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:01:05.140Z article:section: World og:title: Pilot Suspended After Failing Booze Test an Hour Before 4,100-Mile Flight og:description: The pilot also serves on the board of directors of the state-owned airline og:url: https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dc4fb3eb7f5ce1/69893ecdfb4eac44008982f2/air-india-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: air-india-plane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pilot Suspended After Failing Booze Test an Hour Before 4,100-Mile Flight twitter:description: The pilot also serves on the board of directors of the state-owned airline twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dc4fb3eb7f5ce1/69893ecdfb4eac44008982f2/air-india-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pilot Suspended After Failing Booze Test an Hour Before 4,100-Mile Flight by [Anurag Kotoky and Bibhudatta Pradhan / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Anurag Kotoky and Bibhudatta Pradhan / Bloomberg Nov 12, 2018 5:55 PM CUT  This June 8, 2018 file photo shows an Air India plane. This June 8, 2018 file photo shows an Air India plane.WU HONG—POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock by [Anurag Kotoky and Bibhudatta Pradhan / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Anurag Kotoky and Bibhudatta Pradhan / Bloomberg Nov 12, 2018 5:55 PM CUT India’s aviation regulator pulled a pilot scheduled to fly the Delhi-London route for the nation’s flag carrier after he failed an alcohol test about an hour before the flight. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement Monday that the Air India pilot tested positive on a breath analyzer test on Sunday, following which it suspended his license for three years “as per the provisions of applicable regulations.” Arvind Kathpalia, the pilot, also serves on the board of directors of the state-owned airline and is in charge of its overall flight operations. A representative for Air India declined to comment. Airlines around the world routinely battle the issue of inebriated pilots. The New York Times reported this month that Japan Airlines apologized after one of its pilots admitted to having consumed two bottles of wine and five cans of beer — almost 10 times over Britain’s legal limit for pilots — before he was about to operate a flight from London to Tokyo. In January, a British Airways pilot was hauled out of the cockpit by armed police for reporting to work drunk, the Telegraph reported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/"},"headline":"Pilot Suspended After Failing Booze Test an Hour Before 4,100-Mile Flight","datePublished":"2018-11-12T17:55:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:01:05.140Z","description":"The pilot also serves on the board of directors of the state-owned airline","url":"https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/","keywords":["Aviation","India","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dc4fb3eb7f5ce1/69893ecdfb4eac44008982f2/air-india-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Anurag Kotoky and Bibhudatta Pradhan / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt88dc4fb3eb7f5ce1/69893ecdfb4eac44008982f2/air-india-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"air-india-plane","caption":"18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, Qingdao, China - 09 Jun 2018","creditText":"WU HONG—POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5452100/pilot-suspended-booze-test-failure/","name":"Pilot Suspended After Failing Booze Test an Hour Before 4,100-Mile Flight"}}]}] ```