pilot sentenced for being drunk

[N813CA]

Fo shows up..... How about the captain shows up. Can happen ya know.

 

[landlover]

Exactly. Figure he showed up on the curb maybe 45 minutes before the flight, plus a 2-hour flight AUS-DEN, plus another 15 minutes to the testing office. 0.94 three hours after showing up at work? The captain isn't the DB here...

unless he was boozing in the van, in the crew room, in the lav after take off etc...

 

[Raoul Duke]

Whole situation could have been avoided with Tic-Tacs

 

[CA1900]

Whole situation could have been avoided with Tic-Tacs

Uhhhh... no, it couldn't.

 

[jrmyl]

I agree that the FO bears the full blame for this. The captain spoke up as soon as he could.

My problem with this is the sentence. 6 months prison time? I can understand losing your job and your license, but not 6 months. You see in the news several times a year people who get caught drinking and driving for the 5th or 6th time. What do they get? Nothing other than a fine. I haven't seen one with jail time other than a few weeks of time served. This sentence is totally out of line in my opinion. Fire him and suspend his license. That should have been it.

 

[AGVMIA]

Over 8k hours, mostly PIC jet, airlines, etc, would NEVER throw a guy under the bus like that! Yes, the FO was intoxicated, but, give him a chance to bow out before you destroy his life. Now, if you give him a chance and he still acts stupid, that's another story. People do stupid things and much worse things in life with much lesser consequences, so while he was definitely wrong, you don't destroy someone's life like that. Compasion is something missing in today's world.

 

[N813CA]

At my 10 years of Part 121 experience as an FO. I 100% agree before the flight. After the flight It depends. That was a long flight and for him to still blow that high heck the crew should have sinced it before hand.

 

[regionalcap]

I agree that the FO bears the full blame for this. The captain spoke up as soon as he could.

My problem with this is the sentence. 6 months prison time? I can understand losing your job and your license, but not 6 months. You see in the news several times a year people who get caught drinking and driving for the 5th or 6th time. What do they get? Nothing other than a fine. I haven't seen one with jail time other than a few weeks of time served. This sentence is totally out of line in my opinion. Fire him and suspend his license. That should have been it.

Would you change your mind if you had a son or daughter on that flight? He put many lives at risk.

 

[CA1900]

My problem with this is the sentence. 6 months prison time? I can understand losing your job and your license, but not 6 months. You see in the news several times a year people who get caught drinking and driving for the 5th or 6th time. What do they get? Nothing other than a fine.

This isn't driving a Honda Civic home from the bar. This is driving a planeload of paying passengers in an airliner. There is a higher standard expected, and a lower alcohol limit in the law.

The America West Captain from the Miami incident got 5 years in prison; the FO got 2.5 years. And they didn't actually get in the air.

6 months was a gift. I hope he'll get help.

 

[OPECJet]

FO definitely is to blame. If you're the cap'n and find a drunk FO before the flight, what do you do? If you find out during / after what do you do? That''s all I'm sayin'. Not defending the FO for showing up drunk.