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pilot sentenced for being drunk

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Clutch said:
Mine is = .odon't get caught
and
TSA=.0suckmynuts
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And you are a loser, immature, and I hope to God you don't fly for a 121 carrier and if you do my family is NEVER on your flight.
 
rabba rabba rabba rabba 121! 121 rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba! Blah rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba 121!

You guys act like the regionals have really been raising the bar for the last couple of decades. 121, 135, 91, 944, whatever it is, flying drunk is not acceptable. I'm the first to go to bat for the skill set of most of the regional pilots I've flown with, but this issue has nothing to do with which set of regs you're operating under. Some of you have made the assertion that these people should just go get a corporate gig and carry on. Really?
 
rabba rabba rabba rabba 121! 121 rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba! Blah rabba rabba rabba rabba rabba 121!

Have you been drinking, Sir?
 
79%N1 said:
Right.....cause joking about drinking and flying but just not getting caught are soooo funny and mature!
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He might be giddy, having found a path to his fantasy, rough prison sex.
 
sunlitpath said:
The Captain should have taken the FO out in the jetway and beat the hell out of him, and then called the chief pilot. Man to man conversations do not adequately address incidents of this gravity. I'm glad that you and Hubert in the Cessna Jet can talk man to man when each of you show up intoxicated occasionally, but the stakes are much higher in the airlines. We can't simply talk man to man, man to woman, woman to man, straight to homo, homo to straight, transgender to non-transgender. We have a highly structured and organized environment that we operate in every day. Certain transgressions can be resolved with stern warnings and admonishment, while others require notifying airline management. Airline management can administer discipline and document grossly negligent behavior. Union Pro Standards will give the idiot a candy bar and tell him to lay low for a month. The candy bar will be paid for by union member dues. When I commute to work or my family travels by airplane, I demand that each pilot's blood alcohol level be 0. Anything above 0 is not only criminal and unacceptable, but it requires the removal of the individual from the ranks of airline pilots. This is not just my opinion; it is the law of the land. Maybe the alcoholic dimwit can go fly Ricky Bobby and his fake boobied wife to Talladega in the King Air or something, but he can't fly 121 anymore. There are too many lives at stake. There are babies that just started there life, there are newlyweds trying to get to their honeymoon, there is the 40 year old mom going for cancer treatment, there is the father of 4 who loves his children and wants to see their soccer game or baseball game or football game, there is my gorgeous ass reading the newspaper going to work, and most certainly irritated already. When we take this job, we agree to show up sober every single day. No breaks, no exceptions, no good old boys covering each other's asses (Sandusky style). Your heart is in the right place, but your head is in the sand. Be courageous enough to hold yourself and your co-workers accountable. The baby and his mother in row 8 will be eternally grateful...
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All in all, I agree with you on the alcohol, but you do realize that pilots are flying the equivalent of intoxicated every day due to fatigue both acute and chronic. It reminds me of the Captain I flew with who was extremely by the book including not reading any in the flight deck. Chief Pilot material. Perfect uniform, perfect everything, hand flew up to cruise. 5 leg day followed by a short overnight and this guy is head bobbing all the way back to base.


  • Being awake for 17 hours impairs performance to the same level as having a 0.05 blood alcohol content.
  • Being awake for 20 hours impairs performance to the same level as having a 0.1 blood alcohol content.
 
There are enough pilots who are not this type of screwup. He had his chance, now game over. Go work somewhere else. Or maybe the airline could hire him back as a gate agent or baggage handler if he needs employment.

If he is really repentant, maybe a ground instructor.

If he can stay clean for 5-10 years, then maybe reinstate him as a pilot.

As far as the captain goes, I would have done the same. I am not going to compound a crime by helping cover it up.

I would have told the FO that I am calling the company to voice my concern about suspecting that he was intoxicated.

He could always call in sick and leave the gate area if he wants to. But no way I am covering for it once it happened. The coverup is always worse than the crime.
 
Sunlitpath,
While I understand and respect your position on pilots flying impaired; I disagree with your approach to this argument. Unfortunately your mild attempt at labeling, generalizing and your comments which are obviously contemptable towards "corporate pilots", I've had to dismiss you as the kind of guy who starts his briefing in flight operations with "I fly by the book..."
The world is grey here, sunlitpath. Choose the path of the professional airmen and have a discussion with another professional; man-to-man. Or option B: make a call to the chief pilots office, play the part of the company man and destroy someones career in the process.
While I do agree that flying in an impaired state is one of the least professional actions this First Officer could take and is indeed deserving of harsh punishment; let the facts be clear... the F/O was the pilot flying on a leg from AUS-DEN and the flight operated normally and safely. The Captain saw nothing in the First Officers flying ability or cockpit behavior that indicated intoxication. Merely a "whiff of something" that smelled like alcohol.
Does that sound like the kind of indications that warrant a call to the CP? I would suggest they are the kind of markers more worthy of a candid talk man-to-man.
And as a former "121 guy" I'm a little ashamed of your generalization of the corporate world. Plenty of the skilled crew in the corporate world were at one point very dedicated -121 crew.
And it wasn't drinking a beer and flying that landed most of them here... it was taking a gamble on a better life where pay, benefits and life/work balance was better than the scheduled air carrier world.
BTW- We don't fly a CJ and I've never flown ricky bobby to taladega. We're in SLC today and go to LGA tomorrow. Hope we don't get frightened by all those "121 operators" acting so professionally and flying so proficiently. Wake up sunlitsky; we're all professionals and we all play by the same rules.
Our company has a .02 alcohol policy- what does your company say?
 
It comes down to judgement. Captains have to make judgements about everything that occurs in and around the aircraft, as well as everything regarding its operation. The entire culture of safety is greatly compromised if the Captain's judgement is faulty. We are specifically trained, encouraged, and required to err on the conservative side of safety related issues. These values have to be lived and exercised. They are no good on paper alone. The Captain in this case being discussed made a judgement that the FO was acting as a required crewmember while under the influence of alcohol. His judgement was correct; the FO was legally drunk. He has no way of knowing if the FOs blood alcohol concentration is .01 or .11 . He decided to let management handle the investigation. A so-called "man to man talk" would not have discovered this fact. The FO may have gone to his next flight and operated intoxicated again, he already did it once. You or I may have handled this situation differently, depending on the circumstances. That's fine. Each Captain has to live with his decisions. Captains who are too cowardly to report gross negligence, when it becomes necessary, create a hazardous environment for the aviation community. Of course we shouldn't go tattle tale to management for every little issue; however, certain issues require and mandate coordination with management and the appropriate authorities. The Captain made a judgement and it was sound. The Captain calling the chief pilot did not wreck the FOs career. If the FO had 0% BAC, he would have gone to his next flight and continued his career. I do admire the reluctance of many pilots to call the chief pilot regarding a fellow pilot. I share this sentiment. However, some issues require management notification. It's not an easy decision. It's a judgement each of us must make.
 
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Clutch said:
A friendly, "you smell sick" would've made this all irrelevant.
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Friendly? Irrelevant? There is nothing friendly about someone who would put anyone in the very relevant position in which the FO put that captain.

The captain is not the guilty party here.
 
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