6 months in Jail for Delta Pilot with 4x PCA limit (Alcohol Concentration)

[markis10]

Seems an appropriate sentence given the facts mentioned! I am not surprised the news took a little while to get out!

• Drunk pilot jailed for six months
• Was four-and-a-half times over the limit
• Could not recall which city he was flying to

A DELTA Air Lines pilot was jailed for six months by a UK court for turning up drunk in London to fly a transatlantic passenger plane, according to British media.

George La Perle, from Boston, was stopped by security officers at Heathrow airport at 8.30am on November 1 last year because he reeked of alcohol, Isleworth Crown Court in west London was told.

Read more: Delta Air Lines pilot too drunk to fly jailed for six months | News.com.au
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[nlagalle]

Seems an appropriate sentence given the facts mentioned! I am not surprised the news took a little while to get out!

IIRC isn't the BAC meant to be 0.00 (or the 10 hours bottle to throttle). I don't recall in my PPL exam saying what the % was..

My only question on the article though what did he actually do to constitute jail? I don't believe he got near the plane, so can you be jailed for simply turning up drunk? Or had he signed in?

 

[markis10]

IIRC isn't the BAC meant to be 0.00 (or the 10 hours bottle to throttle). I don't recall in my PPL exam saying what the % was..

My only question on the article though what did he actually do to constitute jail? I don't believe he got near the plane, so can you be jailed for simply turning up drunk? Or had he signed in?

In Australia yes, in the UK its 0.009! A year ago it was a united pilot in a similar position.

 

[Justinf]

Penalty seems disproportionate to the crime, given that drunk drivers are far more lethal and get away with barely a slap on the wrist. I doubt the captain would have got to actually fly the aircraft anyway. If the security people could smell him, I am sure his co pilots would have as well and would have raised the alarm.
Fact. People do stupid things. Whether it's an airline captain, a garbage collector, a tasation officer or a police officer...doesn't matter.

 

[markis10]

Fact. People do stupid things. Whether it's an airline captain, a garbage collector, a tasation officer or a police officer...doesn't matter.

True, but a garbage collector is not empowered under international law in terms of command and control like a pilot is, and while other crew may have detected him before harm was done, there are plenty of single pilot aircraft carrying passengers where that fallback is not available, should the penalty be less because the detection of the intent to break the law was easier?

 

[Justinf]

True, but a garbage collector is not empowered under international law in terms of command and control like a pilot is, and while other crew may have detected him before harm was done, there are plenty of single pilot aircraft carrying passengers where that fallback is not available, should the penalty be less because the detection of the intent to break the law was easier?

You make a good point. I'm not saying the airline pilot shoudl have escaped with a tap on the wrist like a car driver would have. (my views on lenient drink driving penalties are a different story) Obviously the implications are far greater for him. He has a full planeload of pasengers, plus any people on the ground that the aircaraft or debris may strike if a tragic event occured.
Six months jail still seems excessive to me.

 

[markis10]

The predecessor got 10 months suspended and was only 2.5X the limit:

Drunk United Airlines pilot Erwin Vermont Washington avoids jail sentence - NYPOST.com

People in positions of responsibility can often expect jail for acts that would not see such a sentence normally, if I made a bad mistake or turned up for work drunk it was a real possibility for me as an ATC, in fact an ATC was jailed for 9 years just because he was the controller at work when the mid-air at Zagreb occurred in 1976, in that case he was found guilty of being a "person(s) who by endangering railway, sea or air traffic, threaten the lives of men or property", AFAIK he was completely sober.

Geoffrey Thomas published an article on the prosecution of aviation professionals that makes for interesting reading even though its focused on such action after an accident, increasing the risks of an accident through your own intentional actions just makes no sense, but as you say and I concur, people do stupid things.

SAFETY and Pilot Prosecutions