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Mesaba crew canned for booze?

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The story is true. It was verified by XJ management today.

FO was arrested for running through the hotel banging on doors looking for a girl he met in the bar. Captain and stewardess fired for drinking under 12 hours. Captain only called the company after the FO was arrested.

There is no excuse for this type of behavior in this day and age. How many more Northwest and America West incidents do we need to have before people wise up and quit drinking when they shouldn't?

Why are people saying this shouldn't be posted on a public board when it is now public information? You all know if this had been Pinnacle you would never hear the end of it. What is fair is fair.
 
TIS said:
I don't know the facts of this case. Haven't heard a word about it. I have my suspicions however, and I don't think the above sentence quite cuts it. It really should go more like this:

"People keep getting caught doing things that they know to be mistakes before, during and after their acts - things for which the consequences are CLEARLY spelled out in their employee policy manual."

Now why do you think this happens? The answer is simple; People in this industry tend to think that only certain rules apply to them. And even if any particular rule does, well, they just won't get caught. A little acountability would be nice once in a while. We definitley don't need the FAA imposing their brand of it if we don't do it ourselves.

TIS
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i agree wholeheartedly with everything you said
 
fly4ever said:
Guys I know things like this get around but this isn't a good place to air the laundry especialy when the facts aren't public. It's one thing to talk about it in our crewroom it's another to put it on this website.
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Well then follow co policy and don't f'ing drink--they deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!
 
jackbo said:
The story is true. It was verified by XJ management today.

FO was arrested for running through the hotel banging on doors looking for a girl he met in the bar.
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Was she as homely as that Danica chick?

How did the FO implicate the rest of them? He should have manned up and took the pain on his own.
 
I have reliable sources that said the FO had to go to detox for 72 hours. He was also in the pool area throwing chairs and other pool stuff around. And this was after the captain had already put him to bed.
What a moron !! He deserved it!!
 
westbound said:
I have reliable sources that said the FO had to go to detox for 72 hours. He was also in the pool area throwing chairs and other pool stuff around. And this was after the captain had already put him to bed.
What a moron !! He deserved it!!


FO was arrested for running through the hotel banging on doors looking for a girl he met in the bar. Captain and stewardess fired for drinking under 12 hours. Captain only called the company after the FO was arrested.
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HE!! of an overnight!
 
I really hope they planned on calling in sick.
 
Slightly off the subject, but heard this on the frequency a couple of days ago. There is a KEGGS intersection on the LOUPE4 DP out of LAX. The departures were getting a little backed up, so the controller cleared an America West flight direct to KEGGS, someone on the frequency said, "don't encourage them"

I have to admit, it doesn't sound right as I'm reading it, but it was PRICELESS!
 
SSDD said:
Slightly off the subject, but heard this on the frequency a couple of days ago. There is a KEGGS intersection on the LOUPE4 DP out of LAX. The departures were getting a little backed up, so the controller cleared an America West flight direct to KEGGS, someone on the frequency said, "don't encourage them"

I have to admit, it doesn't sound right as I'm reading it, but it was PRICELESS!
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One of those "letterman drum rolls" please!
 
Maybe the union can get the CA's job back. Depends on if they actually have a receipt and/or proof that he was drinking within the window. Those things are hard to prove in front of an arbitration board.

What was the FO arrested on? Disorderly conduct/Public drunkeness? He wasn't trying to operate a vehicle, at least from the story I've heard on here.
 
I highly recommend some GROUCHO GLASSES to keep your true pilot identity hidden from others while on overnights.

To this day I have never been correctly identified by hotel staff while launching patio furniture from my balcony into the pool below.
 
TIS said:
Now why do you think this happens? The answer is simple; People in this industry tend to think that only certain rules apply to them. And even if any particular rule does, well, they just won't get caught. A little acountability would be nice once in a while. We definitley don't need the FAA imposing their brand of it if we don't do it ourselves.

TIS
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TIS,

Very true, However, when it comes to alcohol and our culture, it gets very grey. Our pilot schedules and culture basically promote binge drinking....

Ever heard this.... "hey man we got 30 mins to get to the bar and have a beer"

Well, if you have one beer, why not another? Before you know it, you are breaking the rules. Since I am back on a reserve schedule it is more difficult tofind 12 hours to drink a beer. So I don't.

Paying cash is the way to go. And if you pay with a credit card, don't wait till the last minute cause the waiter might take 15 mins to run your card or the time stamp maybe incorrect.

When a pilot gets jammed up with the company and alcohol is involved, the only thing the company is interested in doing is limiting thier liability. They do not care about right or wrong or your job or your family.

Finally the company can terminate you for breaking thier policy. If you are trying to justify the FAA's 8 hour rule and the company's 12 hour rule you are already going down the wrong path. And when to apply the rule? It is bottle to throttle? Or it is bottle to acting as a crewmember. IOW if you have to take an early van and show up 30 mins prior to show time and the agent talks to you about the flight, you are functioning as a crewmember....

Finally, if you are making this much effort, to drink a beer while "at work" then it probably isn't worth it. Save your cash and buy some quality beer and drink at home...

The fall out from a $3 beer is incredible, skip it...
 
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Legal to start....legal to finish?
 
Sorry to ruin 50 posts with factual information, but here is what really took place. The Mesaba F/O in question was moonlighting as an investigative reporter. He was only pretending to drink while talking to the female captain who had actually done the hot refueling that is so infamous on this board.
She was drinking shot after shot of Jack Daniels while he masterfully pretended to match her. She had no clue that he was in cahoots with the bartender, who was actually filling his shot glass with tea. He soon gained a full confession.
Now comes the twist. Many of you 9E guys and girls know that your chief pilot also works for the CIA. Guess what happened when he got wind of this ( my guess is within 30 mins ) "THE MAN" immediately went ito action. Slinging furniture into the pool, banging on hotel doors, creating false bar tabs. Agents then threatened the CA and FA to induce cooperation.
This evil called PINNACLE must be stopped.
 
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Rez O. Lewshun said:
TIS,

Very true, However, when it comes to alcohol and our culture, it gets very grey. Our pilot schedules and culture basically promote binge drinking....
Click to expand...

That is total crap. I hope like all hell you are kidding about this.

Saying that is like saying, "Our industry promotes sleeping with hotel employees because we are always on the road." Way to give up on personal responsibility.
 
If you must drink within 12 hours of your show time, then something is really wrong. Nothing says you have to go to your room and study your operations manual, but why not just switch to Coke? Heck, have the bartender put it in a regular glass with a lime, and nobody will know the difference. You may notice a decrease in the number of mornings you wake up next to an ugly, overweight F/A though.

I enjoy sitting down and having a beer with a good crew, and if it's a longer overnight it's definitely fun to go out and have a night on the town. But be responsible about it. Trust me, those patio chairs probably deserve getting chucked off the 21st floor balcony into the pool! But not six hours to show.

I think what Rez meant with his "binge" comment was that some crews feel the need to go slam down a few cold ones in time for the 12 hours on a 14 hour overnight, therefore "binge drinking." The change in the industry towards more productivity and less and less time on overnights has meant less and less chances to go out and enjoy the cities we fly to with our crews.
 
I can see the F/O getting canned for not being so smart, but the FA and CPT getting the exact same thing done to them? BS! I know it's the company policy but many of us have been out on a 14 hour overnight and looked at our watch to see 11:40 left till showtime. Whoops. We're not getting drunk or disorderly like the F/O. I guess I see some punishment to uphold the rule, but not the same punishment as the guy that gets arrested.

And I thought the airline I flew for was always out to can people.
 
Well said RT, that was sort of my take on it. The FO was stupid enough to make a fool out of himself, yet it drags everyone else down with him. Doesn't seem right, but alot of things in this industry are like that.
 
Remember, it is not ok to be drunk and fly........as a pilot, ever.


But, you can be drunk and be a passenger and that is perfectly fine. Gate agents, FA's and pilots should do a 500% better job denying boarding to drunk pax for the safety of the other passengers and crew, as the FAA regs state.
 
redflyer65 said:
Well said RT, that was sort of my take on it. The FO was stupid enough to make a fool out of himself, yet it drags everyone else down with him. Doesn't seem right, but alot of things in this industry are like that.
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I heard the first thing out of the FO's mouth when he woke up in Detox was, "Dude...
 
RT and Redflyer,
Don't forget the CPT and the FA were both inside the 12 hour rule as well. They just weren't stupid enough to knock on hotel room doors and throw chairs into the pool. The company didn't can them for what the FO did, the company canned them because they violated the alcohol policy. And my understanding is that it wasn't just 20 minutes inside the 12 hour rule, it was fairly significant.
 
liv'n_on_credit said:
Well, at least it will give the Pinnacle bashers some time off.

No doubt once this Mesaba rumor is dead, the Pinnacle bashing will return.
Click to expand...

This just in:

FO was just hired by Pinnacle... couldn't resist
 

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