TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Pilots get all-clear in narcotic tests
An official said on Sunday that both the chief pilot and co-pilot of the Lion Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft that crashed on Bali on Saturday afternoon tested negative for narcotic and alcohol use
Change Size
A
n official said on Sunday that both the chief pilot and co-pilot of the Lion Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft that crashed on Bali on Saturday afternoon tested negative for narcotic and alcohol use.
The Transportation Ministry's director general of air transportation, Herry Bakti S.Gumay, said a medical examination had found no evidence that Capt. Mahlup Gozali or co-pilot, Chirag Carla, had any health problem that would have played a role in the accident. The tests found no presence of drugs or alcohol in their bodies.
'The results of preliminary reports show that they tested negative [for using drugs and alcohol]; but, they will continue to be monitored and there will be follow-up tests including on the hair,' he told a press conference on Sunday afternoon as quoted by Kompas.com.
Urine tests are standard operating procedure that pilots must undergo in the event of an aircraft accident.
Shortly after the accident occurred, Herry ordered such tests for the pilots. The tests form part of the investigation process into the cause of the plane crash.
The aircraft overshot the runway at the Ngurah Rai International Airport before it came to a halt in the sea on Saturday.
The pilot and co-pilot have been relieved from duty by the Air Transportation Directorate General which handed over them to the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for the investigation process.
Flight number JT-960 took off from Bandung, West Java, at 12:35 p.m. after arriving from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The accident took place at about 3:30 p.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. Jakarta time.(asw/ebf)
