The president director and operational director of SkyTeam member Garuda Indonesia’s low cost carrier Citilink have resigned after video surfaced of one of their pilots stumbling through airport security.
No one stopped him. Security staff have to help him gather his belongings because he couldn’t manage to balance them himself.
The pilot then proceeded to the plane, did his preflight, and made a predeparture announcement. That’s when passengers reportedly suspected he was drunk, and many ‘decided to disembark from the plane’.
Watch the pilot stumble as he tries to walk through security and pick up his bag after x-ray:
The incident occurred Wednesday morning on the 5:15am flight QG800 from Surabaya to Jakarta.
Citilink operates as a separate airline from Garuda, from its hub in Surabaya. It operates mostly domestic flights with a fleet of Airbus A320s. They sell tickets in Carrefour grocery stores.
A passenger caught a portion of the announcement that indicated there was a problem. The video does not, however, show passengers getting up and leaving.
Here is what’s reportedly video of a disagreement in the cockpit of the flight in question.
The pilot has been fired “for breaching the procedures, a violation that can endanger the lives of passengers.” Another pilot was sent to handle the flight and ultimately departed just an hour behind schedule.
(HT: Secret Flying)
What website did you use to display the frequencies between SUB and CGK?
The news report in the next Youtube video shows the passengers trying to get off, seems to cover it well enough you can understand why execs resigned. https://youtu.be/ZnA-dbJze_k
Wish we knew what the pilot was saying in cockpit as he was challenged: “I CAN FLY THIS PLANE!” maybe or “Here let me open this window. Need a bit of air!” It’s interesting how easy it is to challenge the boss when lives are clearly threatened. But the screeners should have already had the cops head him off.
@M – I used the airline’s website. I’m only showing morning flights. However I pull up schedules on a variety of sites regularly such as expertflyer.
Yah, can’t tell what was happening in the cockpit video because I don’t know the language. But in the security screener’s video, he was “3-sheets-to-the-wind” and seemed stupefied and clearly unaware of surroundings. How did he even get into the pilot seat without blacking out? It is confirmed he was drunk? Or was it Ambien?
And why did the airline EXECUTIVES resign? Are they attempting to avoid liability from an onslaught of lawsuits? What about the pilot himself?
Lost his job? He should be banned from flying commercial aircraft period and prosecuted.
Why did executives resign? They weren’t drunk? The click bait headline didn’t need the extra click bait…. the pilot bit is enough to get people to click.
@AtlantAnne I think you need to google the definition of click bait. The executives resigning is a factual result of the incident.
@Gary, it makes no sense that the “president director” and ops director would resign. Unless they were serving alcohol to this pilot or aware he was flying drunk. Shrug. I am not challenging you or doubting the veracity of your statement. I’m just saying it’s weird that they resigned.
@Gary, it makes no sense that the “president director” and ops director would resign, but it would seem that they did indeed resign Unless they were serving alcohol to this pilot or aware he was flying drunk, I don’t see how they were responsible. Shrug. I am not challenging you or doubting the veracity of your statement. I’m just saying it’s weird that they resigned. And they did.