Irfan Faiz, 54, had been due to captain a flight to Islamabad on Wednesday night and was carrying out pre-flight checks when staff at the airport noticed he was “unsteady on his feet and smelt of intoxicants”. The plane had 180 passengers on board.
The Pakistan International Airlines pilot, who was chewing gum and had consumed mints to hide the odour, admitted one charge of carrying out “an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink”.
Martin Townend, prosecuting, told Leeds Magistrates’ Court, “He did gain access to the cockpit of the aircraft when he was stopped by managers, who contacted police, who arrested him.”
“There was a potential for the plane to have been piloted by a drunk pilot. That would have been dangerous for the passengers, and people living in the UK, as that plane could have potentially crashed.”
Yousuf Khan, representing Faiz, told the court that Faiz registered 41mg of alcohol per 100ml when breathalysed – well over the legal limit for flying of 9mg – but said his client had an unblemished record as a pilot.
Faiz, who has been flying for 25 years, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on October 18.
Magistrates told Faiz he had “breached the trust of the public”, adding that “the consequences could have been serious loss of life”.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority told the BBC, “A pilot attempting to fly while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs is a major threat to flight safety.”
“At UK airports the police have legal powers to test pilots for drink and drugs. Such incidents, however, are very rare.”
may be he was thinking like pakistan daddy(son of gen.Chisti) phone call will help..this the result when selection is not done on merit
thought alcohol was banned in pakistan
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Alcohol is banned in 'that pakistan' …
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Indiscipline plagues PIA and it is the management which must be blamed for this, because it is they who been found lax in punishing such people. What do u expect from an organisation which was handed over to criminals like Aijaz Haroon and Shuja Naqvi, who were found involved in massive financial irregularities in pilot recruitments, apart from involvement in Land Mafia scams like Kidney Hill. They held booze parties where air hostesses were coerced to play role of escorts and in one such party a Director was seen dancing with glass of whiskey balanced on his head being applauded by MD and other executives. The fish rots from the head. Discipline has to be enforced with severe punishments. In this case the pilot should be sacked, his license cancelled by CAA, since it has been established that he was highly intoxicated when reporting for duty. Yet PIA wants to wait for court decision and CAA is silent, although their own laws have been violated.
well not in London friend…….however the pilot should be punished whether from any part of the world
pia needs to be handed over to private investors maybe like like of emirates who ironically started their days with pia help and knowledge. we need the pia of the 70s and 80s era back. sack all
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