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Pax accuse captain of drinking

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inbound

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Posts
113
PORT COLUMBUS INCIDENT
Travelers say they smelled alcohol, confronted pilot
Captain didn't fly; Southwest, FAA are investigating
Thursday, January 8, 2009 3:14 AM
By Kurt Ludlow and Andy Hirsch
WBNS-10TV
WBNS-10TV VIDEO

* Pilot Accused Of Drinking, Replaced On Port Columbus Flight

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident Tuesday at Port Columbus in which two passengers accused a Southwest Airlines pilot of having been drinking.

The Chicago-based captain, who was preparing to pilot Flight 3396 to Orlando, Fla., was replaced by another Southwest captain, said a spokesman for the airline, which also is reviewing the matter.

The accused captain, now on paid leave, isn't being identified because he wasn't arrested and no charges have been filed. The plane he was to pilot, a Boeing 737 capable of carrying more than 120 passengers, ended up departing on time Tuesday afternoon.

According to a report filed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority police, Andy Maisner and business colleague Chan Mahon noticed the captain at a security checkpoint staffed by the Transportation Security Administration.

"As we went through security, we told the TSA guy, 'Hey, that pilot smells like he's reeking of alcohol. He ought to be checked out,' " Maisner told WBNS-10TV last night.

Maisner and Mahon, both California residents, followed the captain down Concourse A and become alarmed when they mistakenly thought he was heading to the gate where their flight was about to begin boarding.

"So we went up, and Chan said to the pilot, 'Hey, you just reek of alcohol, and if you've got a drinking problem, you shouldn't be flying this plane.'

"The guy just took off running. He didn't say, 'I haven't been drinking.' He just turned beet red and took off."

Airport police found the captain in a nearby restroom, where he'd traded his uniform jacket and cap for a "civilian" jacket, the report said.

While in the restroom, the captain apparently called the airline to report that he was sick, triggering his replacement on the Orlando-bound flight.

The police officers said the captain did smell of alcohol but didn't appear to be impaired. He told them that he had "partied hard" at his hotel the night before but that he hadn't been drinking that day, the report said.

Airline officials told police that the captain would be given a blood-alcohol test. No results were immediately available.

FAA regulations stipulate that no one can pilot an aircraft within eight hours of consuming alcohol or with a blood-alcohol content of 0.04 or higher.

It turned out that the plane Maisner and Mahon were about to board was adjacent to Flight 3396
 
Sounds a little like he might have called in sick before he made it to the restroom... How likely is it that they could get a replacement to take the flight out on time unless this guy was reporting way early?

Anyhow, be careful. It seems like everyone is the enemy now.
 
Hopefully this turns out to be nothing and he bagged the trip before he ever got to the airport.
 
Anyhow, be careful. It seems like everyone is the enemy now.

Never once have I partied on an overnight because of this crap. I'd be more than happy to delay/cancel a flight because our passengers accused us of drinking.
 
People!!!

Let's not defend what may be indefensible!!! The dude fessed up to the cops!!!!

Ain't no place for drunk/hungover pilots in the cockpit unless it's me!!!
 
Hopefully this turns out to be nothing and he bagged the trip before he ever got to the airport.

Even if he called after getting to the airport, he can still be safe. As long as you don't get onto the airplane, you can probably dig your way out with the help of the union. You might have to enter the HIMS program, but at least you won't lose your job.
 
People!!!

Let's not defend what may be indefensible!!! The dude fessed up to the cops!!!!

Ain't no place for drunk/hungover pilots in the cockpit unless it's me!!!

Fessed up? He didn't fess up to anything. This was a flight departing in the afternoon, and he had been drinking the previous night. He was almost certainly outside of the 8-hour rule, which is all that SWA has, and the cops stated that he didn't appear to be impaired, so it's likely that he wasn't above 0.04 BAC, either.
 
I ain't buying these apologist explanations I'm hearing. Bottom line is he was at the airport, in uniform, near his departure gate, and smelled like alcohol in the afternoon. That behavior alone is grounds for immediate termination in my book. If he had just screwed up and partied too hard the night before and was hung over he should have called in sick and NEVER put on his uniform. In my opinion, management and union leadership should be in lock step on this issue. There is no room for this kind of thing in our profession.
 
Really you guys are arguing minutia and the fine points--do you think our customers will feel any different?

Sorry, the damage has been done, true or not, no matter the facts, the public jury will rule based on the national news--even if the facts result in exoneration. He has tarnished Southwest and his fellow pilots. Moreover, he has tarnished our profession with more bad judgement.

This will be the joke on every late night show and comedy circuit. We will all probably have to talk to others ad-nauseum about the incident and embarassingly have to defend our profession.

It's not like it hasn't happen before, and want happen again. Party hard on an overnight? Geeesh! Save those activities for off the clock events.

We're not in college or high school anymore. Perception is everything. Everytime I have to be drug or alcohol tested, I think about the very small percentage of idiots like this that have brought it on!
 

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