Alcohol and aircraft do not mix. Pilots know this, which is why aeroplanes, unlike bottles of sleeping pills and cough medicine, do not have to carry one of those warning stickers that says “Do Not Operate While Taking This Drug”.

So, it is a little alarming to read in India’s tabloid paper Mail Today that pilots in India who report drunk for duty generally avoid being punished.

The paper said, “Apart from the fact that it’s not a criminal offence for a pilot to report drunk before a flight in the country, the dearth of experienced pilots means airlines often have to turn a blind eye to the nuisance and let the offenders go off the hook lightly.”

The report quotes a “retired pilot” who said the airliners don’t take action against inebriated pilots because there is a perennial shortage of qualified aircrew. Never mind that operating what is in effect a high-speed, pressurised missile while drunk is quite likely to result in an even greater shortage of qualified aircrew.

In a moment of fine understatement, the retired pilot told Mail Today “If you are a junior pilot with not much experience, you may be in slight trouble. However, if you are a commander, then the airline concerned mostly ignores it.” Anyway, even if the pilot was sacked, he’d probably be hired by another airline right away.

Elsewhere in the world getting caught while flying under the influence is a total career stopper. Aircrew who are busted for flying under the influence are stripped of their licenses and usually jailed.

Just ask Joe Balzer, a Northwest Airlines flight engineer who, along with his two pilots, was busted after flying a Boeing 727 carrying 91 passengers from Fargo, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The crew were jailed in a Federal lock-up.

Balzer later wrote Flying Drunk, the story of his long painful hike to redemption.

Seems that such pain is not required from aircrew in India, hence the cartoon (top) from a blog called India Chronicles.

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