PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - PIA pilot suspended after having long nap
Old 9th May 2017, 01:00
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Airbubba
 
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From the Pakistani equivalent of The New York Times, The Dawn:

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.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1331552

Copy of the purser's in-flight services log here:

https://twitter.com/crkamil/status/860570785190092800
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