Kapil Sharma

Aviation Enthusiast, Centrist, love reading about 'psuedo' sciences, spirituality and people skills. B737/A320. Opinions are my own and not necessarily correct.

[Griffin @6ESinger157593]

The Trouble with Testing Airline Pilots for Drugs: A Metabolite Is Not a Cockpit

There is something wonderfully comforting about a zero-tolerance policy. It requires no judgement, no nuance and, ideally, no inconvenient questions. Find a drug, find a positive result and — splendid — safety has apparently been served.

Except that chemistry is rarely so obliging.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation requires random testing for psychoactive substances among pilots and air traffic controllers. Quite right. Few things are more obviously unacceptable than an impaired person flying a passenger aircraft.

But there is a rather awkward distinction at the heart of the exercise: detecting a substance is not the same as detecting impairment.

A toxicology test may establish that a drug or its metabolite is present in the body. It cannot necessarily establish that the individual was intoxicated, cognitively impaired or unsafe when sitting in the cockpit.

Take cannabis. Its metabolites can remain detectable long after the intoxicating effects have vanished, particularly in regular users. The laboratory may therefore discover the chemical residue of something consumed days or even weeks earlier.

The pilot may be sober.

The aircraft may be perfectly safe.

The test, nevertheless, says “positive”.

It is a rather curious form of justice in which the laboratory can establish that something happened in the past but is invited to pronounce upon what was happening at the precise moment a person was responsible for 200 lives.

Nor are screening tests infallible. Initial immunoassays can produce non-negative results through cross-reactivity with legitimate medicines, before more specific confirmation is undertaken. Modern confirmatory testing substantially improves accuracy. But by then the damage may already have begun: grounding, suspicion, anxiety and the peculiar professional stigma that attaches itself to anyone whose name appears beside the words “drug test”.

The comparison with alcohol is instructive. A breathalyser measures alcohol in the breath and offers a reasonably immediate indication of alcohol concentration. Drug metabolites are another creature entirely. They can be chemical echoes rather than evidence of present intoxication.

A footprint proves someone walked there. It does not prove they are still in the room.

This is not an argument for softer aviation standards. It is an argument for smarter ones.

If safety is the objective, then the system should distinguish between exposure, recent consumption and actual impairment. A pilot who is intoxicated at the controls is a danger. A pilot who has recently consumed a prohibited substance may reasonably require investigation and removal from duty. But a residual metabolite, by itself, should not be promoted into a scientific declaration of cockpit impairment.

And then comes the deliciously awkward question: why stop with pilots?

We have decided that people entrusted with enormous public responsibility must be chemically beyond reproach. Very well.

Let us test politicians before they legislate. Journalists before they turn a rumour into a national emergency on television. Judges before they deliver decisions after a sleepless night and six cups of coffee. Police officers before they draw their weapons. Surgeons before they reach for the scalpel.

Absurd, naturally.
Which is rather the point.

Aviation deserves the highest safety standards in the world. But high standards should apply to the quality of evidence as well as the severity of punishment.

The answer to a positive test should not be a shrug, a headline and a pair of grounded wings.

A metabolite is not intoxication. A laboratory result is not a cockpit. And zero tolerance for impairment should never become zero tolerance for scientific reason.

@DGCAIndia @In_Alpa

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@stopclimbFL200 There's the kind that request a FL like this:

xxx RADAR, YYY 123 request.

Go ahead.

Xxx radar, yyy 123 traffic permitting request climb FL aaa if available (optional "it will help save fuel")

*Xxx radar, yyy123 request level aaa* is all that's needed.

[Vinayak malik @Vinayakmalik7]

@AtishiAAP @p_sahibsingh @LtGovDelhi @CMODelhi @gupta_rekha @DelhiJalBoard @BJP4Delhi @AmitShah We at sukhdev vihar have been facing water shortage problem for last 3-4 months and that to even in winters as well for years now, but no help/resolution, CE, EE, AE, JE DJB don’t care

[Chavi Hemanth @chavi_hemanth]

WTE plant has turned out to be a lethal & toxic breeder of harmful gases & ash at a stones throw from residential area of Sukhdev Vihar which is hazardous for the health of residents are emitted. We strongly support the relocation of WTE plant to outskirts of Tughlaqabad.

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@aneeshp Finally someone spoke up. All Airlines in India want a piece of the same pie, yet none have spoken about the pie being sour till now. Big changes are needed for the industry to be profitable.

[Ori Fox❓ @fox_ori]

Here is that promised story of the #JWST light sensors! aka – detectors. These devices are slightly larger than a quarter, but cost a quarter-MILLION dollars each! And key to the entire mission of detecting photons emitted 13 billion years ago at the edge of the Universe. 1/n

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@MalayaliPilot @trend_nosig @flyspicejet Haha, I'm sure it's nothing, but I do recall that handle and I honestly havnt been very active on twitter at all.

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@trend_nosig @MalayaliPilot @flyspicejet Now, if I can only remember why I remember that handle🤔

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@trend_nosig @MalayaliPilot @flyspicejet Joji panachel? Was it?

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@rpramodhkumar

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@Capt_Ck That looks like the slow kind. Slow simmered in milk. Also, those borosil boxes are the perfect single serve size IMHO. 🍻. Happy lohri🔥

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@rpramodhkumar Better on the side of the driver seat. You'll look fancy, if and when u have to use it 😂🍻

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@trend_nosig Happy Lohri to you too 🍻

[Aviation Safety Network (ASN) @AviationSafety]

A copilot in training steered an Airbus A320 onto the wrong runway during a rolling takeoff at Sharjah Airport, according to a newly released report.
The captain took over control and the aircraft lifted off 20-40 meters beyond the end of runway.
https://t.co/SAD7f24m2D

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@trend_nosig Radar contact lost. 😂.

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@rpramodhkumar 😂

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

A good workout will make you feel amazing, even in a dad bod. Had forgotten what it feels like, all thanks to scheduling.
#SmallJoys

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@Deaphen @trend_nosig This is some good stuff man!

[Kapil Sharma @katch_kapil]

@trend_nosig 🤣 👌

[Stansaid Airport @StansaidAirport]

Delighted to be the first airport in the world to develop a convertible push back tractor. Can't wait for summer!