PIA pilot grabs some shut-eye leaving aircraft in hands of trainee:
KARACHI: A couple of weeks ago, a senior pilot of the
Pakistan International Airlines operating the Islamabad to London flight
(PK-785) handed over the aircraft to an under-training pilot soon after
the take-off and took a two-and-a-half-hour nap in the passenger
compartment, compromising air safety and putting the lives of over 305
passengers at risk.
According to sources, the airline was initially reluctant to
take action against the senior pilot, Amir Akhtar Hashmi, a former
president of the highly influential Pakistan Air Lines Pilots
Association (PALPA), but later caved in to “pressure from above”.
PIA
spokesperson Danyal Gilani told Dawn that Capt Amir Hashmi was off from
flying duty due to the investigation under way, but refused to share
any further details.
Sources said that on April 26, 2017
Mr Hashmi was in charge of operating the London-bound PK-785 along with
first officer Ali Hassan Yazdani. Another first officer, Mohammad Asad
Ali, who was under training, was also present in the cockpit. Mr Hashmi,
an instructor, gets paid over Rs100,000 each month to train pilots, and
was supposed to train Mr Ali during the flight. However, instead of
performing his duty, Mr Hashmi went for a quick lie-down.
Spokesperson says inquiry is under way
The sources said over 305 passengers — 293 in the economy
class and 12 in the club class — were on board. During the journey, Mr
Hashmi had left Mr Ali in control of the flight, while the regular first
officer, Mr Yazdani, sat in the observer’s seat in the cockpit. Mr
Hashmi apparently strolled over to the business class cabin, pulled a
blanket over himself and went to sleep.
The sources said
that the issue would have gone unnoticed but one of the passengers saw
the uniformed pilot sleeping. Upon learning about who he was, the
passenger raised a hue and cry and eventually the senior purser (air
hostess) had to mention his complaint in her report (flight log).
According
to the sources, senior purser Nazneen Haider’s report said: “Passenger
(Seat 1 D) complained that while the captain was sleeping in business
class cabin, I (the passenger) do not feel safe. It had been explained
that two other crew members were in the cockpit but he said that he
would follow the matter and write down a complaint card as well.”
Both the first officers, in a bid to protect Mr Hashmi, had not reported the incident to the management.
Initially,
the airline had tried to put off an inquiry into the incident but
eventually had to succumb to pressure from concerned ministry higher-ups
in Islamabad and Mr Hashmi was taken off flight duty.
This
is not the first time Mr Hashmi has compromised the air safety of
passengers. During his tenure as PALPA president, he had many times
flown long-haul transatlantic flights without resting for the prescribed
duration before the start of the journey, and gotten away with it.
In
June 2009, a similar incident had occurred with a European airliner
whose pilot had retired to the passenger cabin, leaving the aircraft
(Airbus 330) in the control of an under-training pilot, who could not
negotiate an emergency and crashed the aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean
killing over 200 passengers on board.
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