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Pilots' Bar Tab

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Birdstrike

Atlantic City
Joined
Jul 2, 2002
Posts
13,334
I realize there are always two sides to every story but this story just continues to worsen. From Matt Drudge's column:


PILOTS' BAR TAB SHOWS THREE GALLONS OF BEER

By MALCOLM BALFOUR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



July 23, 2002 -- MIAMI - Two grounded America West pilots drank nearly three gallons of beer before they allegedly tried to fly a jetliner earlier this month, prosecutors are charging.
Throw in one martini - and a lone Western hamburger - and that's what was on the bar tab for Christopher Hughes and Thomas Cloyd, according to prosecutors' filing.

The credit-card tab for the popular bar Mr. Moe's was opened by Hughes at 10:45 p.m. and closed nearly six hours later at 4:22 a.m.

Their pair's bill came to $122 and they left a $20 tip.

They checked into their rooms at 5:30 a.m., according to their electronic room keys, records for which were released yesterday.

Only five hours later, at around 10:30 a.m., they were in the cockpit of a Phoenix-bound plane carrying 124 passengers.

The purportedly plastered pilots were ordered to return from the runway to the gate just before takeoff after a screener reported smelling alcohol on their breath.

Hughes initially told cops it was "merely mouthwash," according to police reports.

But tests showed the two men had blood-alcohol levels more than double what's allowed for flying.

Cloyd, 44, and Hughes, 41, have pleaded not guilty to charges of operating an aircraft under the influence, but were fired almost immediately by the airline.

Their pilots' licenses have also been revoked.

The bar tab became public after a hearing yesterday in which the judge on the case pilloried the pilots for failing to show up - and for leaving for their Arizona homes without permission.

Circuit Judge Richard Maargloius warned that the pair had better show up at their next hearing, Aug. 1, "or else."

Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
 
According to a receipt from Mr. Moe's in Miami, Hughes bought seven 34-ounce beers, seven 16-ounce beers, a Happy Hour draft beer, one martini and a Western Burger between about 10:49 p.m. and 4:22 a.m. The receipt is part of the court record in the arraignment of Hughes, 41, and pilot Thomas Porter Cloyd, 44.

MORONS!!!

Here is the actual image of the receipt and credit card ticket....

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/pilottab1.html
 
Mmmmm...a Western Burger. That's the one thing I miss from California - Carl's Jr.

Sorry, I haven't had lunch yet.

I guess I shouldn't make light of this, but it's so rediculously stupid, I can't help but laugh.
 
While trying to give these guys the benefit of the doubt, how do we know that they drank all the beer and not some hottie they were trying to score with that nite?
 
Look at the writing ...

One needs no further evidence than the handwriting on the receipt to see how bad off these guys were ... it is darn near impossible to make out the numbers he tried to write!

My advice is to develop a "personal policy" regarding alcohol use (regardless of company policy or FAA regs) and stick to it. Personally, I will not fly for twelve hours after any drinking, and if I have more than two drinks, that automatically becomes 24 hours. On layovers, I will not drink unless the layover is 18 hours or more, and I will only have one drink at a sitting. My CP and I also have an agreement that when we're out together on a trip, only one of us will drink on any given day ... leaving the other fully able to drive the rental car and and exercise a little judgment where necessary!

I've found this policy to be very workable for me; anybody who likes it may feel free to use it, and even claim it as their own!

It's just too bad that the 99% of us that do it right have to defend our entire industry against the 1% that go on a drinking binge, fly over the White House, etc. Never forget the media in this country will do ANYTHING for a story, and they just love making everything sound much worse than it really is.

Fly safe!!

R
 
These guys drank a hell of a lot. 14 beers and seven of them 32oz, plus whoever had the martini. These guys can put them down which is a problem. If these guys can six hours after leaving the bar be even somewhat coherent after putting those beers down, they are textbook alcoholics. Then they plead not guilty. They are in denial as well. They got what they deserved.
 
Hey at least they were drinking Sierra Nevada. That's pretty decent beer/ale. If they were drinking Old Milwaukee or Pearl, then they would have never been able to get out of bed, however.
Seems like they probably had a good ole time, at least until later that day! Never hesitate to bang in sick!!
 
jetexas said:
Hey at least they were drinking Sierra Nevada. That's pretty decent beer/ale. If they were drinking Old Milwaukee or Pearl, then they would have never been able to get out of bed, however.

I bet they are drinking Old Milwaukee now! Unemployment doesn't pay much!!!

IDIOTS!!! I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for these losers!
 
Falcon Capt said:


I bet they are drinking Old Milwaukee now! Unemployment doesn't pay much!!!

IDIOTS!!! I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for these losers!

I have less then zero. I hope they hang for the blackeye they caused our profession.

I have always been disgusted about the NWA guy getting his job back. Hopefully, the judicial system will set a better example out of these two.

Their days of taking showers unmolested will soon end. Good.
 

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