An Air Astana captain was fired Friday after he failed a drug test and was discovered to have a bag of marijuana on him following a flight to Kazakhstan.
According to Olzhas Auyezov of Reuters.com, the unnamed Air Astana pilot had just arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from Moscow, Russia, on an Airbus 320 when a drug-sniffing dog became suspicious of him during a routine security check at Almaty International Airport.
When local police searched the captain, they discovered a small bag of marijuana in the pocket of his jacket. A subsequent drug test also found that he had traces of marijuana in his system as well.
Authorities at Almaty airport arrested the pilot, who reportedly admitted to smoking marijuana the night before and said he has used the controlled substance for three years.
Air Astana says it “regularly tests its crews for alcohol and drugs using a random sampling method,” and that the airline fired the captain immediately as part of the company’s zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol.
Daher Aircraft will present its TBM and Kodiak aircraft families at next week’s NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), showcasing how their combination of performance, e...
BPE Air, the aviation company founded and wholly owned by entrepreneur Aldrew Crowe, reported approximately US$90 million in revenue in 2025, marking a major milestone in the growth of its integrated...
Qantas Freight and Australia Post have entered the next chapter of their long-standing partnership with the arrival of the first of three additional Airbus A321 Passenger-to-Freighter (A321P2F) aircra...
Textron Aviation has marked a key milestone in the development of the Cessna Citation CJ4 Gen3 with the rollout of the program’s first production aircraft. The achievement brings the next-g...