PIA captain sleeps with 300 on board, hands over flight control to trainee

Captain Amir Akhtar Hashmi had taken a nap in the business class passenger cabin

A senior pilot of Pakistan's flag carrier PIA has been taken off duty for allegedly sleeping on a London-bound flight and risking the lives of over 300 passengers by handing over the aircraft to a trainee.

Captain Amir Akhtar Hashmi had taken a two-and-a-half- hour nap in the business class passenger cabin on April 26 soon after flight PK-785 took off from Islamabad for London, the Dawn reported.

The issue would have gone unnoticed, but one of the passengers saw the uniformed pilot sleeping. Upon learning about who he was, the passenger raised the matter with cabin crew and an