Drunk PIA pilot jailed for nine months in UK

Published November 22, 2013
The Pakistani pilot told police he had drunk three-quarters of a bottle of whisky but had stopped drinking about 19 hours ahead of the planned take-off of the Airbus 310.—File Photo
The Pakistani pilot told police he had drunk three-quarters of a bottle of whisky but had stopped drinking about 19 hours ahead of the planned take-off of the Airbus 310.—File Photo

LONDON: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot was jailed for nine months in Britain on Friday for being drunk before he was due to fly a plane with 156 people on board.

Irfan Faiz, 55, was asked to leave the cockpit during checks for the flight from Leeds Bradford airport to Islamabad on September 18 because he smelled of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet.

The father-of-two was found to have three times the legal amount of alcohol in his blood, prosecutors told the court in Leeds in northern England.

Faiz told police he had drunk three-quarters of a bottle of whisky but had stopped drinking at about 3:00 am, some 19 hours ahead of the planned take-off of the Airbus 310.

His behavior would have been permitted in Pakistan, where the rules state only that there should be 12 hours between “bottle and throttle” no matter how much the pilot had drunk, the court was told.

Judge Peter Coulson described this rule as “extraordinary” and said he was also “astonished” to hear that pilots regularly flying out of Britain did not know about the far stricter regulations there.

In Britain, pilots are permitted nine micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath tested, well below the 35 micrograms allowed to drive a car. Faiz initially gave a reading of 41 but a later test recorded 28.

At the time of the incident, PIA, which is Pakistan’s national carrier, said Faiz would be sacked if he was convicted.

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.