KARACHI - The Civil Aviation Authority has warned domestic carriers to ensure their pilots aren’t flying drunk after the investigation of an accident last week discovered the captain of the flight had elevated blood-alcohol levels.
Amjad Ali Toor, the director-general of Civil Aviation Authority, said in a statement that medical tests showed the pilot in command of a Shaheen Air International plane that skidded off a runway in Lahore had an “unacceptable” amount of alcohol in his blood.
There were no fatalities or serious injuries in the accident, which involved a Boeing 737 with 114 passengers and seven crew members aboard. Shaheen Air didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment. Neither the airline nor regulators publicly named the pilot.
On Thursday, the aviation authority called an emergency meeting with representatives of all domestic airlines and asked them to conduct “snap medical tests” on their crews.
Aviation officials said they don’t know whether the captain’s alcohol consumption caused or contributed to the Shaheen accident, which is still under investigation. “It may have been one of the factors, but it [being drunk] is unacceptable and dangerous on its own,” said one official.
State-owned Pakistan International Airlines said Friday that it adheres to global safety standards and that crews are examined regularly. “PIA is the only airline in Pakistan which is IOSA-compliant,” said airline spokesman Aamir Memon, referring to the International Air Transport Association’s Operational Safety Audit benchmark. A PIA pilot was sentenced to nine months in prison by a British court in 2013 for attempting to fly an aircraft from the United Kingdom to Pakistan with a blood-alcohol level above the limit allowed for pilots.
“This was one incident in five or ten years, he was punished,” said Memon. “We have zero tolerance for negligence.”