Henri Paul - Personal Background

Personal Background

Paul had worked for the Fayed family for eleven years, and received his private pilot's licence in June 1974 and was said to enjoy hiring aircraft to fly over to Lorient. Three days before the crash, Paul successfully passed his annual pilot's physical examination. The examination includes a certification which tests for any alcohol problems (including a blood and liver test). His parents claim that this test would have shown if Paul had problems with alcoholism. The original document Certificat D'Aptitude Physique et Mentale was shown on Diana - Geheimnisse der Todesnacht German-Television ZDF in 1998. However, the Operation Paget Inquiry received Europe-wide standards for pilots' medicals that were in force in 1997 from the Civil Aviation Authority that suggest no specific medical test for alcoholism was undertaken and a self-certification of alcohol problems was required from individual pilots. Paul made no certification of alcohol problems and none were externally apparent to the doctor who examined him. As part of security training, Paul was known to have been to Stuttgart, Germany, two times on specialist courses run by Mercedes-Benz on how to handle their cars; these included anti-terrorist and anti-kidnapping evasion techniques.