Pilot 'smelled strongly of alcohol'

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/19032007/34...y-alcohol.html

Pilot 'smelled strongly of alcohol'
The Press Association Monday March 19, 02:49 PM

An airline pilot turned up for work while almost six-and-a-half times
over the drink limit to fly a plane, a court has heard.

American James Yates, 46, smelled strongly of alcohol and was unsteady
on his feet when he turned up for duty at Manchester Airport, it has
been claimed.

A First Officer with American Airlines, he was to be one of three
pilots on a 10.30am transatlantic flight to Chicago with 181
passengers on board on February 11 last year, Manchester's Minshull
Street Crown Court
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was told.

But when he went to go through a security gate for flight crew in his
pilots uniform he could not find his identification security pass.

Security staff could smell drink and called in police, who arrested
Yates. He then failed a breathalyser test, Martin Walsh, prosecuting,
told the jury.

"Police arrived and the defendant smelled strongly of intoxicants,
alcohol, and he was asked to provide a specimen of breath," Mr Walsh
added. "He provided a specimen of breath and it was positive."

The first specimen showed Yates had 71 micrograms of alcohol in 100
millilitres of breath. The legal limit for driving a car is 35
micrograms and for an aircraft is nine micrograms, the jury were told.

Yates was arrested and taken to Altrincham Police Station where a
doctor took a blood sample. This gave a result of 129 micrograms of
alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the court was told. The legal
limit for flying an aircraft is 20 micrograms. "He was approaching six-
and-a-half times the legal limit for flying an aircraft," Mr Walsh
said.

Yates, from Ohio, US, told police he turned up for work to tell the
captain he was sick and unable to perform his duties and it was not
his intention to be part of the crew on that flight.

The case continues.

all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

Please do not feed the crosspost troll

"Bucky" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

scRunge wrote:


Please do not feed the crosspost troll


Please do not feed the crosspost troll named "scRunge"...

--
Best
Greg



"Bucky" a écrit dans le message de news:
. com...



all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Mar 20, 3:29 am, "Bucky" wrote:
all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...

On 20 Mar 2007 18:47:25 -0700, wrote:

On Mar 20, 3:29 am, "Bucky" wrote:
all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...

I drove cabs. I would have had no objections to such a test;
in our city the law for cabbies was zero blood alcohol on
duty. Police could randomly test without cause and
occasionally did. I had no sympathy for those who lost their
licences as a result.

But even if I had a drunken accident, the odds on me killing
several hundred passengers plus possible collateral damage
to many others on the ground were pretty remote. Unlike an
airline pilot or a train driver or ferry captain.

I'd not only breathalyse the operators of large-capacity
passenger transports (including ferries, trains and planes)
but I'd add urine and saliva tests for drugs as well.

Finding that I was delayed because my pilot/driver was not
fit to fly would be annoying. But finding that I was flying
in an aircraft piloted by a pilot not fit to fly would be
terrifying.

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Epidaurus
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

Alan S wrote:

On 20 Mar 2007 18:47:25 -0700, wrote:


On Mar 20, 3:29 am, "Bucky" wrote:

all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...


I drove cabs. I would have had no objections to such a test;
in our city the law for cabbies was zero blood alcohol on
duty.

That explains why many of them don't use mouthwash.

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:25:16 -0700, Mike Hunt
postmaster@localhost wrote:

Alan S wrote:

On 20 Mar 2007 18:47:25 -0700, wrote:


On Mar 20, 3:29 am, "Bucky" wrote:

all pilots should be given a breathalyzer test before they are allowed
to work.

Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...


I drove cabs. I would have had no objections to such a test;
in our city the law for cabbies was zero blood alcohol on
duty.

That explains why many of them don't use mouthwash.

Different city:-)

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Epidaurus
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

On Mar 20, 6:47 pm, wrote:
Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...

yes, agreed.

writes:

Then so should all bus drivers, cab drivers, watercraft operators and
on and on and on...

Only after they are subjected to the same strict medical exams as pilots.

It makes little sense to impose severe restrictions on the health of pilots as
a condition of having a license if nothing is done to prevent them from flying
drunk. Even the healthiest pilot will be instantly incapacitated if he drinks
alcohol.

--
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