KARACHI: The pilot of the Shaheen Air flight that crashlanded in Lahore on Nov 3 was not only fatigued but was also under the influence of alcohol, said the acting director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Thursday.

Following these reports, the CAA’s acting director general Amjad Toor announced that the crew would have to undergo snap and random medical tests before operating a flight. He said the tests would be conducted as a precautionary measure and to ensure that such incidents did not recur.

Addressing a number of airline operators and representatives, he said that the reports of a medical investigation of the cockpit crew of Shaheen Air’s flight NL 142 carried out after the incident revealed that the pilot in command had “unacceptable level of blood alcohol and lactate.” The lactate indicated that the pilot was fatigued, he added.

Mr Toor directed airline representatives to ensure that their pilots met the highest level of aviation standards and refrained from flying under the influence of alcohol.

He said airline operators needed to be more vigilant and inculcate high levels of discipline amongst their cockpit and cabin crew to ensure that these incidents did not take place in the future.

Some media reports have been highlighting these issues regularly by identifying the pilots and cabin crew members of the airline who have been flying more than the prescribed ceiling of 100 hours in a month and violating the laws. These reports have raised fears that fatigued pilots operating flights could cause a disaster but the aviation regulator, CAA, did not take notice of or action airline or the pilots and cabin crew violating the law – till one fatigued pilot, who was also under the influence of alcohol, crashlanded.

Previously, a Pakistan International Airlines pilot who was under the influence of alcohol was caught in the United Kingdom minutes before the flight. He confessed, served a jail term there and was also sacked by the airline.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015