A PAKISTAN International Airlines (PIA) faces an internal inquiry after television channels aired a video of a passenger entering and spending two hours in the cockpit during flight PK-853from Tokyo to Beijing recently.
Posted on 11 May 2017 - 07:03pm
Last updated on 11 May 2017 - 07:46pm
Last updated on 11 May 2017 - 07:46pm
The video shows footage where a woman, accompanied by a crew member, entering and exiting the cockpit.
Under civil aviation rules, unauthourised people are not allowed into the cockpit, during landing and takeoff. However, a person allowed by the captain, or authourised by the Civil Aviation Authority chief, can enter the cockpit while the aircraft is in flight.
PIA spokesperson Danyal Gilani said the airline authorities had seen the video aired on television channels and the "matter was being investigated". He confirmed that the pilot in command of the flight was Capt Shahzad Aziz.
The woman stayed inside the cockpit with the pilot and first officer for over two hours, coming out only after the plane landed. At one point during the two hours, the woman was in the cockpit alone with just the pilot.
Geo News correspondent Irfan Siddiqui, who happened to be flying on the same plane, recorded video of the incident with his mobile phone.
He asked if she had enjoyed the landing, and if she knew the pilot on a personal level. The woman went to the PIA staffs to complain, in which Siddiqui retaliated with an assurance that he was going to file a complaint against her.
Watch the video here:
This is not the first scandal involving PIA, last month, the airline launched an investigation against a senior pilot after he was accused of handing over the aircraft to an under-training pilot following take-off and taking a two-and-a-half-hour nap in the passenger compartment (see pix below).
The pilot has been taken off flying duty due to the ongoing investigation.
