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Another co-pilot failed to pass a drug test in a random check on crew members at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, an official said on Tuesday.

The co-pilot was the seventh crew member found possessing or having consumed drugs since September. Four pilots and two co-pilots have been arrested on drug charges since then.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said urine tests were conducted on 94 crew members at the airport on Monday afternoon. There were indications that one co-pilot could have consumed drugs.

“One co-pilot has been barred from flying because there was a positive indication [of drug consumption], so a more thorough drug test is needed,” he said.

Bambang declined to identify the co-pilot’s name or his airline but said he worked for an Indonesian aviation company.

The four pilots and two co-pilots arrested on suspicion of drug possession or consumption since September have been from the private air carrier Lion Air.

Bambang said the ministry and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) would continue holding random checks on crew to clean the sector of drug users.

“This is matter of safety, so we shouldn’t play around,” he said. “On the matter of sanctions for pilots, it is of course the revocation of their licenses and a strong reprimand for the airline.”

Herry Bakti Singayuda Gumay, the director general for air transportation, said a new civil aviation safety regulation would
require airlines to supervise the use of alcohol and illegal drugs among their employees. “It [the regulation] will be

issued in another two months, and part of it says that national airline companies are required to conduct drug tests for at least 50 percent of their air crew every year with a reliable method,” Bambang said.

Jan de Fretes, head of the East Java Anti-Narcotics Agency, said his office had to coordinate with the head office in Jakarta before implementing any drug tests on crew members.

Pilots, he said, “are not like bus drivers. Their schedules are really tight and we cannot just conduct random raids on these pilots.”

Thus far, he added, the agency had only been able to call on crew members to avoid drug consumption because it could affect their passengers.

Trikora Harjo, the general manager of Juanda International Airport operator Angkasa Pura I Juanda, said his institution could only test crew members for drugs if their airlines requested it. Otherwise, he said, Angkasa Pura I lacked the authority to conduct any tests.

He added that Juanda Airport had a medical facility that could be used to conduct drug tests and analyze the results, but so far none of the airlines operating out of the airport had requested those checks.

Aviation observer Dudi Sudibyo said pilots found to have consumed drugs should not just be dismissed from the airline.

“If they are proven guilty, they should have their flying licenses frozen,” Dudi said.
Stephanus Gerardus, president of the Garuda Pilots Association, said the use of drugs by pilot or co-pilots was strongly and absolutely prohibited.

“The professional punishment is the revocation of their pilot’s license, and that means everything,” he said.

On Monday, the Transportation Ministry announced that it had withdrawn the licenses of the four Lion Air pilots and two co-pilots who had tested positive for drugs. The airline said it would stick to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

With additional reporting by
Carla Isati Octama