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It's how Europeans handle a drunk captain

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SLUF4

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Posts
1,122
Doesn't appear that he was actually intoxicated

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5651516.ece

It is normally a moment of cheery reassurance when an airline pilot greets passengers during preparations for take-off. But Alexander Cheplevsky sparked panic on flight Aeroflot 315 when he began to speak.
His slurred and garbled comments ahead of a flight from Moscow to New York convinced passengers that he was drunk. When he apparently switched from Russian into unintelligible English, fear turned to revolt.
Flight attendants initially ignored passengers' complaints and threatened to expel them from the Boeing 767 jet unless they stopped "making trouble". As the rebellion spread, Aeroflot representatives boarded the aircraft to try to calm down the 300 passengers.
One sought to reassure them by announcing that it was "not such a big deal" if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself.
Mr Cheplevsky did little to ease passengers' fears by refusing to leave the cockpit to show that he was sober. When he was finally persuaded to face them, witnesses said that he appeared unsteady on his feet and had bloodshot eyes.
"I don't think there's anyone in Russia who doesn't know what a drunk person looks like," Katya Kushner, one of the passengers, told the Moscow Times, which had a reporter travelling on the flight.
"At first, he was looking at us like we were crazy. Then, when we wouldn't back down, he said 'I'll sit here quietly in a corner. We have three more pilots. I won't even touch the controls, I promise'."
Aeroflot's bad day got worse when it emerged that the socialite and television host Ksenia Sobchak was on board. Ms Sobchak, one of Russia's best-known personalities, demanded that all four pilots be replaced.
The airline finally relented and summoned new pilots to fly the jet to New York three hours late. More than 100 passengers passed the time as they waited by signing a petition declaring that they believed Mr Cheplevsky had been drunk.
Ms Sobchak told Ekho Moskvy radio a few days later that she believed the pilot had been in no condition to fly. She said: "It took him three attempts to say the words 'duration of flight'. Even after Aeroflot personnel asked him to do so, he barely made it out of the cabin."
An Aeroflot spokeswoman said that tests had revealed no trace of alcohol in the pilot's blood. She blamed "mass psychosis" among passengers for the decision to replace the crew, although the company later issued a statement saying that Mr Cheplevsky could have suffered a stroke just before the flight.
The pilot told the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that he had been celebrating his 54th birthday with friends the night before the flight on December 28, but insisted that he not been drinking.
The row is a public relations setback for an airline that has worked hard to overcome its "Aeroflop" image. In the Soviet era, it was known for its unsmiling air hostesses, poor customer service and inedible food.
It came just months after an Aeroflot subsidiary was involved in Russia's worst air disaster for two years, when a jet crashed in the Urals city of Perm killing 88 passengers and crew. The airline banned subsidiaries from using its name and logo after the crash in September, saying it wanted to protect its safety record.
The newspaper Kommersant reported this week that investigators had found traces of alcohol in the blood of the captain who flew that jet. But they were unable to state whether it was the reason that he felt "sickly" shortly before surrendering the controls to another crew member as the plane was due to land.
 
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Of course, and that's why there are TWO pilots.

Geez, what a bunch of whiny babies those Russkies are.

Hell, I remember a (true) story where a Co-Pilot I know very well, a friend of mine, had to sit left seat to taxi the aircraft out to the runway because the Captain was too drunk to do it.

That airplane only had a first generation very rudimentary autopilot, never mind coupled approaches and gee whiz navigation with moving maps.

By God, I remember the days when the President of the Airline used to call the local Bar and demand that one of his Captains get his ass to the airport for an ad-hoc DC-8 trip to Europe, or all of them ( in the Bar ) would be fired. ( Another true story. )

Sh!t, you kids don't know what you're missin'....Why, we used to laugh at ice on the wings prior to departure. Grown men would weep at the sight of our huge balls....Wait, I'm getting a bit confused here, never mind that last part.


YKMKR
 
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Of course, and that's why there are TWO pilots.

Geez, what a bunch of whiny babies those Russkies are.

Hell, I remember a (true) story where a Co-Pilot I know very well, a friend of mine, had to sit left seat to taxi the aircraft out to the runway because the Captain was too drunk to do it.

That airplane only had a first generation very rudimentary autopilot, never mind coupled approaches and gee whiz navigation with moving maps.

By God, I remember the days when the President of the Airline used to call the local Bar and demand that one of his Captains get his ass to the airport for an ad-hoc DC-8 trip to Europe, or all of them ( in the Bar ) would be fired. ( Another true story. )

Sh!t, you kids don't know what you're missin'....Why, we used to laugh at ice on the wings prior to departure. Grown men would weep at the sight of our huge balls....Wait, I'm getting a bit confused here, never mind that last part.


YKMKR

Yes and you went to and from school up hill.
 
It was a dark, and stormy night. The Sky was angry that day my Friends...

Okay...but, the rest....All true.

This business wasn't always about fags, and hags, and bullsh!t, and politics, and TSA, and mindless fools.

Once Upon A Time, There were Men.

I count my Lucky Stars that I was one of the last who got to see it... the way it was meant to be.


YKMKR

( P.S. - Seriously, I grew up in Maine...And, I can tell you ( numerous ) true stories of hiking home almost 3 miles, through the woods, in 4 foot deep snow, in the dark, after having served Detention. )
 
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It is both Europe and Asia.

East of the Ural Mountains it is Europe, West of them it is Asia.

This ends your useless fact of the day.

Uh, you better get that whiskey compass of yours checked before you take off with it again. I guess doing geography in public is just as bad as doing math in public. :rolleyes:
 

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