Egyptian actor and popular singer Mohamed Ramadan defended himself two days after a video that showed him flying a plane while traveling to Riyadh caused controversy.
He commented on his personal Twitter account that the plane he is shown speaking inside of in the video was not a passenger plane, but a private plane taking him to Riyadh. He pointed out that the person who was saying in the video that Ramadan was driving the plane was a friend and was only joking, and that the pilot had already closed the plane control panel completely at the time the video was shot.
The Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority had confirmed on October 14 the legitimacy of a video clip in which Ramadan was seen flying a plane, stating in a press release that it had investigated the clip as soon as it was published on the internet.
The statement added that the plane belonged to an Egyptian private company, and that its name will not be disclosed at the moment. The authority issued a decision suspending the pilot and co-pilot from work and referred them to an urgent interrogation for violating the rules and instructions of international and Egyptian civil aviation and putting passengers at risk.
EgyptAir has denied any links to the video, which circulated on social media and shows Ramadan in the cockpit sitting next to the pilot during the flight.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
