Comment: Guaranteeing flight safety

Feb. 10, p. 1

On the heels of the arrests of pilots using crystal methamphetamine, airlines operating in Indonesia boosted their commitment to preventing air crews from consuming drugs and alcohol for the sake of flight safety.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it applied lower working hour requirements than those stipulated in government regulations to keep its pilots fit and healthy.

Your comments:

Good for Garuda in stepping up its efforts to promote flight safety. We all know what a struggle they’ve had with safety in the past.

I do have to raise an eyebrow at the claim that their testing regime has yet to turn up a single staff member using drugs or alcohol.

In the realm of drug testing (or any testing field for that matter), a 100 percent pass rate points more to problems with the test than anything else.

Justin Snyder
Jakarta