Benghazi, 8 December:
Air
traffic was disrupted for several hours at Benghazi International
airport yesterday following a bizarre dispute between the head of air
traffic control and a Libyan Airways pilot.
Captain Hassan Zariba
was preparing to take off for Tripoli when he was ordered to disembark
to sign-off his flight plan in the presence of the manager.
Zariba
refused on the grounds that he had already signed the flight-plan and
the order did not conform to proper procedures. Quite why the manager,
who has not been named, demanded the plan be signed a second time in his
personal presence is not known.
“I have served as a captain
since 1984 and this is the first time I ever encountered such a
request”, Zariba said. “This was a humiliation and degrading to my
status.” The captain added that, in his opinion, the official in
question did not understand his job and was “alien to the field of
administration”.
In retaliation, air traffic controller grounded
all flights in and out of the airport, leading to disruption that
continued for several hours.
The Libyan Airways flight eventually
took off at around 15:00, having been scheduled for departure at 12:20,
after the captain eventually relented, and regular service was able to
resume thereafter.
Source: http://www.libyaherald.com
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