Issue No. 595
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18 - 24 July 2002 Issue No. 595 Home news |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Disputed dismissal
An EgyptAir pilot has been fired on charges that he jeopardised the lives of his passengers and crew. But as he tells Amira Ibrahim, he was sacked for different reasons
Following a two-month suspension, EgyptAir pilot Ali Murad was dismissed this week for irresponsible action. Murad was accused of taking off in bad weather on 14 May on a Cairo to Luxor flight. Before boarding the plane, pilots receive a weather report and, according to aviation safety instructions, they must remain in their cockpits, in cases of bad weather, until they receive a go- ahead. Should the weather be so bad as to pose a safety threat, pilots should ask for a delay or even cancel the flight. Murad did not wait, nor did he heed his co-pilot who suggested he not take off.
Ali Murad
At Luxor Airport, the plane allegedly faced serious weather turbulence and had trouble landing. "It was God's help, not Murad's proficiency that saved the plane and the people on board," Ahmed El-Nadi, chief of the EgyptAir Holding Company for Airlines, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
"Murad's act was thoroughly investigated by two technical committees -- one from the company and the other from the Aviation Ministry. Both found him guilty," El-Nadi asserted. "The flight voice recorder, the weather report and the data recorder showed that Murad violated safety instructions and that his flight was subject to a genuine threat," he added.
"Had his plane crashed, just seven days after the Tunis crash, EgyptAir would have been terminated," El- Nadi said. On 7 May, a Boeing 737 crashed into a Tunisian hillside killing 14 people, whilst in 1999 a Boeing 767 plunged into the Atlantic with 217 people aboard.
However, El-Nadi also said that Murad has maintained a blameless record over his 17-year long career with EgyptAir. "[But] there is always a first time for every thing and for some drastic mistakes, it is also the last," commented El-Nadi.
Sources at the Ministry of Civil Aviation declined to comment, claiming that investigations have yet to be completed.
Speaking to the Weekly, Murad denied the accusation and insisted he was a "victim of a conspiracy". "My flight to Luxor landed safely. I returned with another 106 passengers to Cairo on the same day with no troubles at all," Murad said. "I was not summoned to attend any investigation. [Then] I requested to take a two-week annual vacation and the company agreed. Upon returning, I found out that the vacation was cancelled and I was considered absent without permission, although I had not been notified," Murad added. "My name was taken off the pilots' flight schedules. Whenever I asked for the reason I was given no response," he said. Murad said he submitted four requests in writing for a meeting with the aviation minister but got no reply.
"I have served EgyptAir 17 years and I am willing to devote my whole life to the company," he added.
Following the 7 May crash in Tunis, Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq, applied a series of procedures aimed at overcoming the consequences of the accident and improving the national carrier's performance. EgyptAir became a holding company with a new management, two months ago, and was split into seven holding companies, each with its own management.
Shafiq who had previously announced that only a human mistake and bad weather could stand behind the Tunis crash, turned to instituting tough measures for erring pilots. He also ordered the halt of all promotions, pending the evaluation of the pilots' training programmes.
Shortly after Murad's Luxor flight, a female co-pilot was suspended for more than a month for violating safety instructions. The co-pilot made an incorrect landing at Cairo Airport during which the plane was seriously damaged. Repairs were estimated at LE6 million.
"I do not tolerate a pilot who carries out irresponsible acts, especially when the lives of hundreds of passengers are at stake," Shafiq stated.
But whereas the co-pilot recently resumed flying, Murad was fired this week. "I did not do anything wrong ... I know I am paying the price for a previous stand I took in which I defended the dignity of my company and my country," he said, referring to a well-publicised event in September 2000 when a routine EgyptAir flight was stopped by Israeli troops. Murad, the flight's pilot, refused to allow the armed Israeli soldiers to inspect the aeroplane. He was forced to fly the plane back to Cairo without any passengers on board because the Israeli authorities had refused to allow them to board the flight. While Egyptian public opinion lauded Murad for his stand, EgyptAir accused him of inflicting a LE20,000 loss upon it. He was suspended from work for seven months until a high disciplinary court ruling absolved him of any wrongdoing.
The ruling gave Murad his job back but did not end his problem with the company's administration. "I have been suffering from all sorts of discrimination ever since," he said. "I am ready to take any punishment but not at the expense of my family. Now that I have lost my job, how can I afford to buy insulin for my two diabetic daughters?" he asks. Murad says that his salary has been suspended since May and that he has not received his bonus in six months.
Observers believe that Murad compromised the company's management which used to allow Israeli troops to carry out armed inspections of its planes in Gaza, in violation of international civil aviation regulations set by the 1944 Chicago Convention.
Civil aviation authorities were also blamed for not replying to Murad's enquiry over whether he should permit an armed inspection of his plane or not. In the light of continued confrontations between the company and its pilots, Murad has been classed as the leader of a group of trouble- making pilots.
Since 1998, EgyptAir pilots have been requesting an increase in their monthly financial bonuses, an end of service bonus and a pension scheme. The company has refused, claiming that pilots' salaries and bonuses are already high and it cannot afford to pay them more.
EgyptAir pilots used to conduct a slowdown or refuse to do unscheduled trips, at peak season and especially during the pilgrimage season and at summer in a bid to pile pressure on to their management. Murad, a former secretary of the Egyptian Pilots' Union -- which has stated its support for the demands of EgyptAir pilots -- participated in the industrial action. The results were discouraging: delayed flights, dozens of passengers left waiting at airports and a further deterioration in the national carrier's image.
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