BNN Reveals Drug Tests Results of `Drunken` Citilink Pilot

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Antinarcotics Agency (BNN) said that it did not find any narcotic nor addictive substances on the body Tekad Purna Agnimartanto, a pilot of low-cost Indonesian airline Citilink Indonesia. Tekad Purna caused a furor across the country after he struggled to walk on his way to a plane at Juanda Airport in Surabaya on December 28 last year.

BNN spokesman Sr. Comr. Slamet Pribadi said that Tekad had undergone lab tests and an assessment. “An assessment is a test to find out substances being consumed, method of consumption, quantity, and time of consumption” he said yesterday at Transport Ministry building in Jakarta.

Tekad Purna was drug tested on January 4 and 5. The drug testing team collected his hair and urine samples. The BNN also found two other results. After physical examination, the BNN did not found significant abnormality.

Moreover, physical test results show that Tekad Purna suffered from adjustment disorder, Slamet said. According to him, adjustment disorder means abnormal reaction to stress. “It may develop into a depressive disorder,” Slamet read the examination results.

Slamet added that Tekad Purna did not consume Gorilla narcotics or AB-CHMINACA as previously suggested.

Tekad Purna also underwent examination at Aviation Medical Center, the Transportation Ministry, on December 28 and 30 last year. “Results show that Tekad Purna was unfit,” Transportation Ministry official Muzaffar Ismail said.

Aviation Medical Center chief Medianto said ‘unfit’ means ‘the flight personnel had failed to meet requirements set forth in the CASR 67.” CASR stands for Civil Aviation Safety Regulation.

CASR 67 relates to Health Standards and Certification. The regulation holds that flight personnel must meet requirements in connections with conditions of eyes, nose, throat, ears, balance, mental, neurological and cardiovascular.

Muzzafar said that unfit personnel can undermine flight safety. The Transportation Ministry had earlier decided to revoke Tekad Purna’s pilot license.

The revocation was also based on an investigation conducted by Transportation Directorate General. Tekad has been found guilty of violating CASR and the company’s SOP which had endangered the flight.

Tekad Purna was investigated after a video recording showing him talking gibberish and allegedly being drunk went viral. Tekad was slated to fly QG 800 plane of Surabaya-Jakarta route.

Citilink president director Albert Burhan and operational director Hadinoto Soedigno had stepped down following the incident.

VINDRY FLORENTIN