This strikes me as being spectacularly bad judgment on so many levels…
In this post:
Air India pilot deported over marijuana possession
An Air India pilot has been deported from the United States after he was allegedly found to be carrying marijuana in his luggage. The pilot was traveling on official business, as he was deadheading, so he wasn’t flying the plane. He was supposed to work a flight out of San Francisco (SFO) two days later to Kolkata (CCU), as the route had been suspended for a number of days, hence the need to reposition pilots.
Given that authorities found marijuana on him, he was sent back to India on the next flight. For what it’s worth, while we had marijuana on him, he hadn’t consumed it, according to sources. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is now investigating this incident. A spokesperson for the airline shared the following:
“One of our crew members travelling from Delhi to San Francisco on April 14, for positioning to operate a subsequent flight, was found to be inadmissible as per local laws and has been sent back to India. Air India maintains zero-tolerance towards any violation of the law and upholds the highest standards of safety, compliance, and professional conduct. Appropriate strict disciplinary action will be taken as per laid down company policies. Ensuring safety, as always, remains Air India’s number one priority.”
Of course the irony here is that marijuana is legal in California, including for recreational use. However, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) follows federal laws rather than state laws, which is why this is an issue.
Was this a dumb mistake, or what happened?
Let me say that I think marijuana is stigmatized way too much, and personally I think it’s better than alcohol in just about every way, if you’re looking to wind down, or whatever. A lot of people like to put all “drugs” in one category, but there’s obviously a difference between between possessing a personal amount of marijuana, vs. having a drug mule quantity of cocaine.
That being said, I can’t help but be confused here:
- Pilots are not allowed to consume marijuana at all (which I think is stupid, but that’s besides the point), and they do get drug tested, so a vast majority of pilots do follow regulations, because their careers are on the line
- If he did want to consume marijuana, he could’ve just bought it in California, given that it’s legal there
So was he actually intending to consume it during his layover, or was it somehow accidentally placed in his bag? And if it was an accident, how exactly does that happen? I can’t imagine someone would find that to be a funny joke, so was it done with malicious intent, or…? More than anything else, the big issue here is the poor judgment of traveling with marijuana as a pilot (assuming he knew he had it on him).
Bottom line
An Air India pilot flying to the United States was denied entry at SFO because marijuana was found in his bag. He was deadheading on this sector, as he was supposed to work a flight a couple of days later. However, he ended up being sent back to India on the next flight.
Pilots have to follow strict rules on drugs. But even dumber than that, if he was going to consume marijuana (not that he should, because he would put his career in jeopardy), he could’ve just bought it in California!
What do you make of this Air India pilot marijuaan story?
Probably needed it to drown out the stench from the passengers. Lol
Why are you so insulting Dave? It’s just so unnecessary and rude.
James - He’s not wrong though.
Tide seems to be turning against the Indians period! Not everyone is a Google CEO! "Too many Indians and Not enough to watch them"
the report does not state clearly whether marijuna was loaded
in the checked baggage or hand baggage. if it is hand baggage
some one would have added the same in his hand baggage
without his knowledge this may be possibly a mischief done
by some one.
Relative of yours? Try Better next time. Maybe the same mischevious person Downed the AI plane in Ahmedabad,India too!
Mile "high" club redifined.
Or the Mike Stench Club. Lol
It is not good for your lungs or your mental health...
No, it's not good for you at all, and like chronic alcohol consumption it can have cumulative effects on decision-making and reaction times that last long after the "high" has dissipated. I'm all in favour of drug & alcohol testing pilots and cabin crew regularly, and firing those who fail. Safety first, activism a distant last.
Imagine how the pilot smelled, is that how customs suspected him? His stench?
Well that would apply to every Air India flight.
We need to bring back smoking on planes, that way people can use up all their drugs while over international waters.
He will probably just play it dumb and say his mom packed his bag. Like all the people who get caught on Australia's Border Security tv series.
I once caught a reality show filmed at the Detroit border crossing. A guy was caught with mj and a gun coming into Michigan. Gee, guy, you can legal buy the first and easily buy the second in Detroit.
I would ban all his relatives to send a message that America is no longer the soft touch so many seem to think we are.
A South Asian told me that Indian’s won’t let visitors eat beef steak so we cannot have them with drugs only for American use.
All these propagandas.
They never stop you from eating beef.
They just won't sell you.
Courtesy of their gods will.
Just like a different god who wants you to banish infidels (everyone else) from your self anoited holy land. And only eat fish on fry days until you see a bunny.
Eskimosabe! Re-educate us on all the propagandas, oh wise sage.
If any part of a dead cow (or often a dead buffalo/bison wrongly considered to be a cow) is found in your flat, the hordes and mobs will soon ensure that you are dead...
Check your acts, Eskimo...This ain't First Nation/Alaska...
Forget the Relatives, Ban ALL his countrymen from entering.
“Ban all his relatives” - what are you on about? The guy was bringing in a drug that is entirely legal in much of the US. Sure, he broke federal regulations but why this lust for revenge against people you know nothing about?
Achrispetty (ig) who himself got caught for MJ and lives in Colorado explained the total prohibition and why he understands it... many countries where its banned do test for it, and if crew got caught up with local law enforcement and were tested it would come back positive even if the consumption occurred in a jurisdiction where it's legal. This would of course have potentially significant operations impact.
One simply cannot wait for the pot head proletariat to join in this conversation after happy hour and a couple of spiffs …. 100 clicks in the making is this article Ben.
Smoke a little weed. Take a crap on the sidewalk. Welcome to San Francisco.
(Lotta narcs in these comments…)
What's most interesting about this item is that the photo of the Air India jet is from a 2024 review of Singapore Airlines Business Class.
Have to stay away from alcohol and weed, to be sharp enough to manage a collection of airplane images.
Probably needed it to cover the smell from the main cabin.
Wildly inappropriate and racist comment, completely unwelcome here.
Have you been on this blog for very long? This sort of racism is extremely welcome here. Somewhere along the line Ben realized a 4chan esque comment section will create controversy and drive traffic
inappropriate and racist, or inappropriate *OR* racist?? Think again...
I think it’s better than alcohol in just about every way.
Except that a one-time consumption of alcohol cannot trigger schizophrenia nor psychosis. Marijuana can.
One time consumption of alcohol can kill.
One time consumption of water in a large enough quantity can kill too.
Sure, but one happens roughly 2,200 times a year in the US alone, while the other is so rare that known or suspected incidents are chronicled on Wikipedia.
hyponatremia-linked deaths occur with a certain regularity during, and generally more often afterwards, several major US marathons...
Being a good Indian with fragile masculinity issues, he will not accept any responsibility and blame US laws.
That was so oddly specific. No one is judging you Endre.......no really.
Americans commenting on fragile masculinity, and accepting responsibility is the most hypocritic statement of the day on this blog.
I thought Marijuana is also legally banned and criminally punishable in India. That guys is in double trouble probably.
Depends on the context. But it can be completely legal in India.
Too keep it simple.
Its like how you serve wine to minors in holy communion.
While the priest and the boy is definitely not legal, but because father said so and the boy will go to hell if he speak up.
Ironically boy left the church and found brotherhood in the boyscouts.
You just gotta love these exceptions.
Don't know his intentions but the last thing I would want is my pilot toking on a bong in the hotel room before going down to meet the crew van.
That crap needs to be banned. It is disgusting
I find lots of things disgusting, so I choose not to do them. Why would I care what others do?
Others fine, however it’s the smell of marijuana that’s a problem. Many people don’t want to breath it as they pass someone who chooses to smoke it. Nor do I want to arrive home and find the corridor of my building is filled with the pungent smell as a neighbour decides to light a joint. This added to vaping.
because the smoke and vile stench impact you? It is weird you think people smoke in a vacuum.
so you don't care about open defamation... I guess Tenderloin and Dharavi share that in common...
Dumb yes. And for the why? Because using drugs leads to making poor choices.
@ Maryland -- Sure, consuming alcohol also leads to poor choices. But at least marijuana also has a medical use, unlike alcohol.
Alcohol and recreational drug use will not anyone smarter. I have observed this ; )
"will not anyone smarter"
Which drug makes you forget words, hmm?
Other Steve. It's called lymphoma and I cannot use anything because of my low platelet count. But yes I did add the smiling face because correcting stuff exhausts me. Forgive please.
Ben, diamorphine also has a medical use, and that doesn't mean recreational use is ok.
Semi-automatic guns have military use and yet we have made its recreational use ok.
@Ben
Alcohol does have medical use.
But the education system is to blame.
Rather than burning and banning books.
Maybe actually teaching science and chemistry?
The "medicinal uses" for cannabis have very limited and poor-quality evidence to support them. Much like gender-affirmation "therapy" for minors, the medicinal cannabis industry is activist-driven and backed-up by corporate entities that make a tidy bundle selling snake-oil to the misinformed and ignorant.
You could say the same thing about Christianity.
Medical use my arse. I am confident that 99% of people smoking that vile crap not doing so for medical reasons.
Weed also happens to be legal in New York, albeit lower quality then Cali bud. Assuming he did this intentionally, he literally could have bought some either in NY or SF without any issues lol
Imagine bringing sand to a desert
This is hilarious
Maybe, hear me out, we should both decriminalize and legalize this particular substance, which has valid medical and recreational uses, within reason. Now, obviously, a crew member should not use this or any substance, especially those that impair, like THC or alcohol.
Absolutely not. It freaking stinks. It is disgusting. It reeks to high heaven and makes me want to vomit.
I wish they would ban it.
And most people smoking it are not doing it for medical reasons.
One hundred percent agreed about smoking it, should not be legal in public, not in multi person housing. Pot-heads tend to be narcissists and just don't care about others. I feel the same about cigarettes being banned everywhere too, BTW.
Do you smoke reefer, Ben? And do you support airlines to allow crew to use the substance with similar time to duty limits as are in place for alcohol?
How soft can a person be?
I feel that way about religion.
I feel that way about religion.
I agree with 1990 on this. Legalize it and tax it. I'm all about that. I don't partake myself (I'm also subject to DOT random testing) and on a flight would rather sit next to a chain smoker wearing the sweater they always smoke in versus someone smelling of weed, but if you wanna do it, go for it. I just don't want to pay for it.
I do agree with not allowing it...
I agree with 1990 on this. Legalize it and tax it. I'm all about that. I don't partake myself (I'm also subject to DOT random testing) and on a flight would rather sit next to a chain smoker wearing the sweater they always smoke in versus someone smelling of weed, but if you wanna do it, go for it. I just don't want to pay for it.
I do agree with not allowing it to come in from overseas. Because if we legalize it, it would be inspected and held to some standards (Towlie can't be everywhere at once though). Plus, again, who needs to bring substandard Indian weed to California? Buy American!
We call weed “kush” bc of the Hindu kush lmfao get me some of that south asian weed over the stuff we grow any day. I imagine it’s medical properties are enhanced too, considering if it was collected in the wild it hasn’t been selectively bread to contain ridiculously high thc content to make you brain dead
Finally someone who actually gets it.
@Speedbird is correct.
The crazy shit people get from dispensary contains GMO with absurdly high THC.
One difficulty if you accept that marijuana use is not detrimental to a crew's functioning when consumed off duty (and also not within a reasonable amount of time before reporting to duty) is that there is no test to determine if a crewmember is currently under the influence of THC. The test only confirms consumption happened, not when. So if a pilot smoked a joint on Monday night, then reported for duty on Wednesday morning,...
One difficulty if you accept that marijuana use is not detrimental to a crew's functioning when consumed off duty (and also not within a reasonable amount of time before reporting to duty) is that there is no test to determine if a crewmember is currently under the influence of THC. The test only confirms consumption happened, not when. So if a pilot smoked a joint on Monday night, then reported for duty on Wednesday morning, a test on Wednesday would be positive even though s/he was no longer stoned.
It has almost no medical benefit except for very specific things. This has been proven. Most studies that were put out were funded by pot companies. Independant studies contradict many older studies. Pot is proven to be harmful.
Joe Schmidt is 100% correct.
generally, but certainly not 100%--the truth is more nuanced than he, Tim Dunn, and many other regulars on this site and other aviation-related blogs will admit...