Pilots arrested for being drunk!!

[Viking 0]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/01/national/main513958.shtml
wow what a bunch of bright people they have working for them.

I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver
My God has a bigger dick than your god -George Carlin

[Darkzone 0]

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"If these pilots did have alcohol in their system, they will be terminated."

Whew! Serious offence ganted, but termination seems a bit harsh. Just sack them!

Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere.

[gravitysurf808 0]

Was that wrong?? I mean, was I not supposed to do that???--George Castanza. ~Sienfeld~

[Nick 0]

I know that strictly speaking it's true but I did love the line "operating a motor vehicle under the influence"!!!

Nick

Nick
Gravity- It's not just a good idea, it's the LAW!

[jtval 0]

OK they knew the company policy and should have known better then to drink. but if they had a few drinks the night before, and slept it off for 8 hours. isnt that about .08 BAC? I wouldnt want to know that my pilot was "Legally" drunk but do you thinkt this is the first time a pilot "Drove" under the influence?(according to the faa guidlines)
dont get me wrong I think its good that they are checking these sorts of things but I think they may be sacrificail lambs in order to help regain the public faith in flying. That would be like having a shot of beer and getting arrested for "DWI." wouldnt it?
maybe I am wrong is .08 alot of alcohol? I believe that is less the one beer. ahh I dont know(probly why I am not a pilot)
like I said they should have been some kinda of action maybe a short suspension. but when thier records were clean (one of the guys was on the job for 12 years) and this incident could crush thier career.
Im sure this isnt the most poular opinion about this so please educate me. what do you think?

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[Remster 24]

To be at 0.08 after 8 hours of sleep, you need to get seriously slashed.... 0.08 is the same level for as for DWI for car use in most contries (and most states too I beleive)

This sort of incident SHOULD crush their career.

Remster

[jtval 0]

ok I guess you would need ALOT of alcohol for eight hours.
I believe your body(LIVER) processes one beer (on average) per hour. And I guess if you KNEW you were flying the next day you should realize that drinking that much is dumb.
I was picturing two guys sitting around and having a few (2 or 3) drinks after a long day of flying.
going to sleep like responsible pilots then getting banged in the morning for being drunk!
that was the picture I was using for my example but I guess you would need about 10-12 beers(7-9 mixed drinks)to get THAT drunk. they probably stank of alcohol when they walked in the plane!

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[pilotdave 0]

The legal limit for a pilot to fly is .04. .08 is just to drive in that state. Also can't have ANY alcohol within 8 hours of flying. Who cares about company policy or even getting arrested. They'll probably never fly again. Idiots.

Dave

[Michele 1]

Morning, JTVal

Here's a link which may help you understand how much alcohol these guys may have consumed. Keep in mind that the table is for a 150 lb. man (which seems small to me, but that's what the table says), and can also vary depending upon other factors, including anything to eat while/just prior to dirnking, tolerance to alcohol, kind of alcohol, matabolic rate, etc. Also note that this is based on consumption per hour.
http://web.umr.edu/~umrtechs/alc/BAC.html

If what Dave says is correct, the BAC is .04, and these guys blew a lot higher - more than twice, if I am not mistaken.

Ciels and Pinks-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[freeflir29 0]

"I only had one but the dog had a lot....."


I have known airliine pilots that flew drunk. One was suspended because he was playing country music so loud in the cockpit that the passengers were complaining. Fortunately, the company straightened this guy out. They told him rehab or termination. He went to rehab and didn't drink for quite a few years. Unfortunately, after he retired he fell off the wagon....

[pilotdave 0]

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If what Dave says is correct, the BAC is .04, and these guys blew a lot higher - more than twice, if I am not mistaken.

Homer: "It's all in the Bible... The Prankster's Bible."

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/DBSearch.cgi?DBSearchDB=ecfr&DB=1&ACTION=View&QUERY=91.17&RGN=BSEC&OP=and&QUERY=14&RGN=BTI&QUERY=2649&RGN=BSECCT&SUBSET=SUBSET&FROM=1&ITEM=1

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§ 91.17 Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft --

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;

(2) While under the influence of alcohol;

(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or

(4) While having .04 percent by weight or more alcohol in the blood.

Yep, they were both over twice the legal limit to fly.

Holy Shmoly, this is my 300th post. Who knewed?

Dave

[diverdriver 5]

"8 hours bottle to trottle" is the FAA minimum. MY airline has a 10 hour rule. No alchoholic drinks within 10 hours of reporting for work. We then have 45 minutes before we depart for our first flight. That's almost 11 hours before flying. So if you get a random test or get tested because of suspicion and you test positive then you absolutely deserve to get terminated.

It takes a lot more awareness to fly a plane than drive a car. I think that the .04 seems a bit silly but I guess they had to put a number on it somewhere. You could stop drinking outside the legal 8 hours and still be tanked that much. It's so unfortunate that these pilots did this. Makes me ill to think about a flying career with the airlines coming to an end. All that work and effort to get there. Just gone. Man.....

I find it really odd that BOTH pilots were tanked together. Wouldn't be the first time, but I think that addicts usually try to hide their problem from others. So sad.

Chris

[narcimund 0]

I don't see any sign that addiction is suggested here. With or without addiction, it would hardly be the first time a flight crew drank heavily together on an overnight.

Commercial pilots might not fly drunk a lot, but they certainly fly with hangovers plenty often.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[AggieDave 6]

Hey, remember, we're talking about Percentages, not actualy numbers, .04 blood level would kill you, .04% (.0004) just means you're willing to play with the creepers and some bungy cords...

Personally, I would like it if the pilots weren't hung over either, driving is one thing, if something isn't right you just pull over and sleep it off a bit, Kinda hard to just pull to the side of the road in a plane, ya know.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[diverdriver 5]

If you have a .091 BAC while taxiing an airliner out for take off then you have no self control. That, to me, would be the definition of someone with a drinking problem. An addict. They come in all shapes and sizes. Hard to accept but true. You don't have to be a jump pilot in rehab for crack addiction TWICE before you are considered an addict. There is definitely a problem here.

Now.....let's say the coffee they were carrying was not poured by them but made by someone else. Someone else who had a plot to get these guys in trouble. They didn't taiste the alchohol in the coffee. It's happened before. A pilot tested positive for cocaine and it was found that the sandwiches that his wife was making were laced with cocaine. Not enough to get him high really but enough that he would test positive. So, I believe there may still be room for doubt in this case and the press is just running with this and only one side of the story.

Chris

[Trent 0]

Who cares how much alcohol they had in them? I am not totally shocked that America West has problems like this... after all, it is the WORST airline on the face of the planet. Yes, even behind Aeroflot in my book.

Oh, hello again!

[Icarus021 0]

These were probably the same two pilots flying the bomber that almost hit the skydiver........ Stupid people do stupid things......


3-2-1-cya

3-2-1-cya
Don't take life too serious, you will never get out alive!

[Slappie 9]

AggieDave

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.04% (.0004) just means you're willing to play with the creepers and some bungy cords...

My % level was alot higher then that I'm sure. It didn't even hurt "much" when it happened..

Why when drunkiness comes into a thread some people have to remind me why I'm a Freeflier instead of a RW guy? Me and Creepers ummmm Not today

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[fasterfaller 0]

I see a certs comercial in the future for those two pilots!

[Ducky 0]

Have any of you folks checked the penalty for DUI these days??? And we're just talking cars here!! In most states if you were perhaps stupid enough to be intoxicated and driving w/ a kid in the car you would be charged with felony DUI AND felony Endangerment of a Minor.
So I'd say these guys should be charged not only with DUI charges, but also be held responsible for each and EVERY individual on that flight that they put in harms way.
Think I'm being irrational?? Nope no way, I have been stupid enough to bag a DUI for myself and would be appaled if these to f*&kin morons got off easy, I sure as hell didn't.

kwak

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[fasterfaller 0]

Oh , they wont get off easy at all . They will be bent over , screwed repeatedly , without grease , or a reacharound or even a kiss . A friend of mine got in a wreck offroad on a dirtbike while drunk and after smoking pot . It took him three years to get his pilots license back . To put it in simple terms , they are fucked !!!!

[Spy38W 0]

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Oh , they wont get off easy at all . They will be bent over , screwed repeatedly , without grease , or a reacharound or even a kiss .

Yeah, just like the guy in this article

--
Hook high, flare on time

[pilotdave 0]

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A friend of mine got in a wreck offroad on a dirtbike while drunk and after smoking pot . It took him three years to get his pilots license back .

Yep, all drunk driving convictions for pilots have to be reported to the FAA. I'm against drunk driving so I don't really care about being harsh to people that do it, but I don't necessarily think that just because a pilot drives drunk means there's any chance he'll fly drunk. Although obviously people have flown drunk before, it's almost never done compared to driving drunk. Pilots know there's no 3 strike rule or warnings in flying. Do it once and ya might never fly again, even if you survive.

Dave

[ChrisDykstra 0]

This is just my two cents worth.....

The simple question to ask here is would YOU be prepared to get on a commercial airliner either knowing or not knowing that the two people up there on the flight deck are affected by alcohol, whether it be totally pissed or even slightly affected?

Even though the pilot(s) may appear to be operating at a normal level, their vision, ability to make command decisions and the primary focus of flying the aircraft may be at risk!!!

Airlines spend huge amounts of money training their pilots to become PROFESSIONALS and this should include their abilities to limit the amount of alcohol that they consume prior to any known flights. DiverDriver's company rule of 10 hours is a good example, perhaps it should be extended to 24 hours.

Passengers place their entire lives in the hands of an airline and its cabin crew and pilots. If the pilots are irresponsible to the point where they can not control their intake of alcohol then in my eyes they should not be working in this PROFESSIONAL environment.

[pilotdave 0]

Not sure if you meant to reply to me or if you were replying generally, but I totally agree. Those pilots deserve to lose their licenses and face jail time. My point is, if Mr. Cessnapilot drives drunk coming home from a party at 2 am, should he lose his pilot's license? I'm all for taking away his drivers license for the rest of his life (yeah, I'm serious), but why not let him fly? Multiple offenders might be a different story, but is there a definite correlation between drinking and driving and drinking and flying? I doubt it.

Dave