KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 ― It is not wrong or unethical for a pilot to ask airline passengers to pray during emergencies, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has said.
DCA director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the standard operating procedure for flight emergencies requires the pilot to clearly explain the situation to passengers and to share his next course of action.
“In such a situation, that pilot is not wrong and is not breaching flight ethics by asking passengers to recite prayers, furthermore in each religion it is urged to pray if any incidents happen.
“Praying is to seek for protection from Allah. Passengers can also pray according to their beliefs, it is not wrong at all if the pilot asks them to pray for the good and safety of the flight,” he was quoted saying by local daily Utusan Malaysia.
“Furthermore there are some other airlines where the recital of prayer is a practice before the flight takes off,” he added.
Commenting on the AirAsia X D7 237 flight that was forced to turn back to Perth en route to Kuala Lumpur, Azharuddin said the pilot acted professionally by explaining to passengers why they had to turn back.
“He did not have to say much because of the need to focus on handling the plane to be safe but that pilot was very professional when he acted to explain the actual situation to passengers and the decision that is made,” he said.
The pilot of AirAsia X Flight D7 237 had came under fire for asking passengers to pray during the rocky flight last Sunday that was forced to return to Perth, Australia, due to engine problems. The plane landed safely without incident.
Captain Ibrahim Jalaluddin, the pilot in that flight, has since defended himself by saying he was calm throughout and saw no harm in appealing for divine intervention.
His employers have also defended the actions of Captain Ibrahim ― who has been a pilot for 25 years, with AirAsia founder Tan Sri Tan Sri Tony Fernandes saying that his announcements kept everyone on the flight calm.
