'Drunk' British Airways pilot is hauled off of Gatwick flight by armed police

[jb747]

I'm not really sure how anyone can realistically ask for zero. Isn't that why so many of the rules are based on .02?

How much of a problem is it? As far as I can tell it is minuscule, and pales into significance compared to fatigue issues...which don't make headlines.

 

[Quickstatus]

Alcohol is pervasive in most cultures and jurisdictions and the extent of the problem of alcohol dependence and misuse is easily appreciated in numbers of drivers caught and continually being caught with an illegal level of BAC. Drug and alcohol misuse is probably the biggest elephant in the room from a OHS point of view

Why do only law enforcement have access to accurate BAC analysers? And why don’t organisations who mandate a certain max allowable BAC don’t afford employees pre duty testing.

Airlines have regular sims, medical checks, but an easy blow into a tube can’t be instituted rather than relying on fellow crew and passengers using their noses as a defacto BAC analyser?

My guess is that airlines don’t really want to know about drug and alcohol and for that matter fatigue despite the safety mantra and despite all three causing similar impairment to performance but are quite happy to destroy a pilot if he steps over the line.

 

[davidj]

My workplace BAC limit is also zero.

In what workplace is it okay to come to work on the pisser? I'm referring to the situation the pilot was in, where one could smell the alcohol and he was clearly intoxicated? It's clearly unprofessional in ANY decent workplace, let alone as a pilot.

Sure the media may be overselling the story but end of the day one should be completely sober and not fatigued (from lack of sleep) to fully perform in the role. Those here defending the pilot really need to think long and hard.

 

[Hvr]

I'm not really sure how anyone can realistically ask for zero. Isn't that why so many of the rules are based on .02?

Agreed, I've previously driven buses and the requirement was for below 0.02 BAC. Easy to achieve if you know what the alcoholic content of your drink is and more importantly what size a standard drink is.

As a teetotaller I knowingly avoid alcohol where ever possible but there are some cough medicines and mouthwashes where there is a little alcohol. While you can check contents carefully you may occasionally get caught out and the limit of 0.02 allows for this possibility.

As for breathalysers at the entrance to each workplace there is the issue that employees cannot be trusted to do the right thing when the great majority will. The few cases that come to light demonstrate that they are so rare as to be extensively covered.

 

[Happy Trails]

In what workplace is it okay to come to work on the pisser?

Don't ask me, I hadn't remotely suggested any such thing.

Those here defending the pilot really need to think long and hard.

And who's defending the pilot?

 

[JohnK]

In what workplace is it okay to come to work on the pisser? I'm referring to the situation the pilot was in, where one could smell the alcohol and he was clearly intoxicated? It's clearly unprofessional in ANY decent workplace, let alone as a pilot.

It's done quite often. I've known people who go to lunch and have 2-3 schooners before coming back to the office for the rest of the afternoon.

Sure they are not blind drunk but still under the influence.

 

[Melburnian1]

'

When a person is drunk or has an alcohol problem that person is unlikely to have proper insight into the condition. Destroying a career before helping the individual is not necessarily best practice.

Very sensible.

I know one retired chap who is an alcoholic. He has no insight into his condition, and reacts angrily if others try to stop him drinking at 1030 in the morning.

From the organisation's viewpoint - an airline, a rail or bus operator, a mining or trucking company - think of the investment it has made in that person and the cost to replace him that in some cases must be in excess of $200,000 given the time it takes to become qualified as a (say) first officer on an airline, or a train driver.

Then there's the loss of corporate knowledge from that trained individual.

 

[kelvedon]

And now a JAL pilot has been arrested 9x over the limit.

Drunk Japanese pilot arrested at Heathrow

 

[jb747]

It's done quite often. I've known people who go to lunch and have 2-3 schooners before coming back to the office for the rest of the afternoon.

Sure they are not blind drunk but still under the influence.

I think you’ve probably just summed up the entire corporate world.

 

[get me outta here]

Wonder what that equates in our recording? Is it a simple equation?

And now a JAL pilot has been arrested 9x over the limit.

Drunk Japanese pilot arrested at Heathrow

 

[kelvedon]

Wonder what that equates in our recording? Is it a simple equation?

In the UK the car driving limit is 85 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system. In Australia it is 50 mg of alcohol per 100ml. Apparently the pilot recorded 189 mg of alcohol per 100ml when for pilots it is 20 mg of alcohol per 100ml. so he was 9 times over the limit.

 

[kelvedon]

I’m surprised to learn that in Japan there’s no alcohol limit for airline pilots.

Japan Airlines cracks down on drunk pilots

 

[kelvedon]

The JAL pilot was jailed for 10 months this week. The company said there have been 19 cases of their pilots failing the JAL alcohol test since August 2017.

Drunk Japanese pilot jailed for 10 months

 

[Quickstatus]

And what happens to the fatigued pilot?

 

[kelvedon]

19 failed alcohol tests in 2 years seems like a lot. Is JAL any different to other airlines. Are alcohol effected air crew more common than the passengers would like to believe?

 

[Melburnian1]

In what workplace is it okay to come to work on the pisser?...
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Federal and State Parliaments - after the dinner break.