A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilot is in hot water after a passenger found him sleeping in business class on a flight carrying 305 passengers from Islamabad to London last month.
According to Pakistani newspaper Dawn, senior pilot Amir Akhtar Hashmi took a two-and-a-half hour nap in the passenger cabin on the April 26 flight while first officer Ali Hassan Yazdani and first officer in training Mohammad Asad Ali flew the plane.
The discovery prompted one concerned passenger to complain to the flight attendant.
"Passenger (Seat 1 D) complained that while the captain was sleeping in business class cabin, I (the passenger) do not feel safe," wrote senior purser Nazneen Haider in her flight log. "It had been explained that two other crew members were in the cockpit but he said that he would follow the matter and write down a complaint card as well."
Hashmi, a former president of the Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA) has been suspended from flying duties amid an investigation.
Dawn reported Hashmi was being paid more than $950 a month to train pilots.
Although a senior pilot snoozing in the passenger cabin is undoubtedly bad optics, it's not uncommon for pilots to take breaks on long-haul flights. The Islamabad to London route clocks in at over eight and a half hours.
"While some airlines install separate crew rest areas (often above or below the passenger cabin), others offer space in first or business class for pilots not flying to take a comfortable power nap while the relief pilots are in command of the aircraft," aviation expert John Walton told the Independent.
"If all three pilots were qualified flight crew, I don't see any issue with one of them using the business class cabin to get their rostered rest period."
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Still, Walton admitted the airline could have done more to put passengers at ease.
"It might be smart for the airline to follow others' leads and use a placard to mark out flight crew rest seats so passengers aren't surprised to see uniformed pilots taking a nap," added Walton.
According to Dawn, neither of the two first officers reported the nap to management and pressure applied from concerned ministry higher-ups is what ultimately led the airline to launch an inquiry into the incident. This comes three months after as many as seven passengers stood in the aisle for the duration of a PIA flight from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia.
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