‘Drunk’ PIA pilot charged in UK, suspended by airline

The News 20 September 2013 LONDON: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot was charged with an alcohol-related aviation offence after being arrested at Leeds Bradford International Airport on suspicion of being drunk while in charge of a plane. Reports said PIA had suspended the pilot immediately after the news of his arrest in UK broke on Pakistani media.Senior PIA captain Irfan Aziz, who is 54-year-old man, was arrested at Leeds Bradford Airport on Wednesday night. He is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court today (Friday) “charged with carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink”. A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “At about 10pm police were called to Leeds Bradford International Airport where they arrested an airline pilot on suspicion of carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink. The 54-year-old man, from Pakistan, is currently in custody.”An airport spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the incident, but the matter is being dealt with by West Yorkshire Police.” A PIA source told The News that Captain Irfan Aziz was arrested shortly before the plane took off. The source said that the police entered the plane only 10 minutes before the take-off as Irfan Aziz was making pre-flight checks in the cockpit of the Airbus 310 aircraft “while almost asleep”. The source said that when the PIA crew saw the pilot, they became worried because he looked completely “drunk and disoriented”. The police acted quickly and were satisfied that it was right to arrest the captain. There were 180 passengers on board, but after the arrest of the pilot the passengers were taken to a local hotel where they stayed overnight and were set to fly to Pakistan on Thursday night. Local passengers spent night at their homes and were flown to Pakistan at midday on Thursday. The passengers were taken to Pakistan by the pilot of the PIA flight 775 who had arrived in Bradford Leeds on Wednesday afternoon. He was asked to take minimum rest, as per the aviation laws, before taking the 180 passengers to Pakistan on Thursday. The PIA has been making headlines in Britain this year. On May 24, two Pakistani men were arrested at the Stansted Airport by the Essex Police on suspicion of endangerment of a PIA aircraft after a Royal Air Force Typhoon jet was scrambled to escort the Lahore-to-Manchester flight. The PIA pilot had raised the alarm after two men tried to enter the cockpit. This week it was reported that three PIA air-hostesses were arrested from a hotel in Manchester after a complaint was made against them by a British citizen.In August, an Airblue flight bound from Manchester to Islamabad reported a fault and caused as many as 300 passengers a delay of over two days at the Manchester airport.