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Citilink pilot incoherent in flight announcement: Passenger
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Economy ride: An Airbus A320 of low-cost carrier Citilink takes off from Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali on June 1. (Antara/Nyoman Budhiana)
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Citilink pilot was removed from duty on Wednesday after passengers claimed he was incoherent in a flight announcement he made before takeoff.
One of the passengers voiced suspicion that the pilot may have been intoxicated.
“Around 15 minutes before the scheduled departure, the pilot spoke random words in his flight announcement. I suspect that he was drunk as he kept mumbling and shouting,” Ketut Buda, who was booked on the Citilink flight from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, to Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on Wednesday morning, told a local radio station.
(Read also: Citilink pilot under probe after allegedly showing up drunk for flight)
Ketut said most of the passengers decided to disembark in a show of protest. They also asked the airline to replace the pilot in question.
Citilink, the low-cost subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, said later in the day that the pilot, identified as Capt. Tekad Purna, would be investigated after the incident.
The Citilink flight was scheduled to take off at 5:15 a.m. After the incident, Citilink replace the pilot and the flight departed an hour behind schedule with 154 passengers on board. (hwa)
This article previously appeared under the title 'Allegedly drunk Citilink pilot speaks random words from cockpit: passenger'. The title and first paragraph have been revised to maintain accuracy.
