KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 ― The Air Asia X pilot criticised for asking passengers to pray during an emergency situation has defended himself by saying he was calm throughout and saw no harm in appealing for divine intervention.
In an interview with Berita Harian, Captain Ibrahim Jalaluddin, who has been a pilot for 25 years, said he and his co-pilot never gave up at any point of the flight, which experienced severe vibrations after one of its engines lost a turbine blade.
The “technical issue” forced the plane to abort its flight to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday and return to Perth from where it departed.
“I prayed and I always pray, I do not think it is wrong to ask them to pray with me. I am thankful that I was able to land the plane in Perth,” he was quoted as saying.
Ibrahim also said he and his co-pilot had weighed all options before deciding to turn back to Perth, despite there being smaller airports at a closer proximity to the location where the problem with the plane was first detected.
“Our emergency was not one that required immediate landing. The standard operating procedure for AirAsia X and Airbus is that immediate landing is allowed for problems with fire or smoke,” he said.
Videos of the vibrating plane were shared online shortly after the incident, with passengers describing the shuddering due to the turbine imbalance as being “like a washing machine”.
Ibrahim’s call for passengers to join him in prayer prompted debate over its appropriateness, but his employers have since praised and defended him over the matter.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has classified the incident as serious and is investigating both the maintenance records of the flight and why the pilots chose not to land at nearer airports rather than Perth that was 90 minutes away.
