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
(Advertisement)
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.

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.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

On Mar 19, 4:39 pm, "Rubba Luva" wrote:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/19032007/34...rongly-alcohol....

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
(Advertisement)
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.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21032007/34...nk-charge.html

Pilot cleared of drink charge
The Press Association Wednesday March 21, 03:37 PM

Pilot cleared of drink charge
Click to enlarge photo
An airline pilot accused of turning up drunk for a transatlantic
flight has been cleared by a jury after a three-day trial.

American James Yates, 46, was allegedly almost six-and-a-half times
the drink limit to fly an aircraft, Minshull Street Crown Court,
Manchester heard.

Yates is a first officer with American Airlines and was to be one of
the three pilots on a long-haul flight carrying 181 passengers from
Manchester Airport to Chicago on February 11 last year.

The jury heard he had
(Advertisement)
been out for a drinking session in Manchester the night before he was
due to fly. He turned up for work dishevelled, red-faced and appearing
apparently drunk, the court was told.

Yates told the court he never intended to be part of the crew for the
flight. He said he only turned up at the airport to inform the flight
captain he would be unable to perform his duties.

He was cleared of a single charge of carrying out an activity
ancillary to an aviation function while over the drink limit.

The court heard Yates, from Ohio, US, was arrested after a positive
breathalyser test and taken to a police station, where a blood test
gave a reading of 129 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of
blood, with the legal limit for flying an aircraft 20 milligrams.

Earlier, Brigadier General Thomas Botchie, a senior commander in the
Ohio National Guard, told the court he had known Yates since they were
both fighter pilots in the military unit in the 1980s.

"I consider James to be a professional prepared to come to the defence
of his country," he said in a written statement read to the jury. It
takes a certain calibre of person to qualify. I have always found him
to be a person of high morals and trustworthy. My opinion is, if James
says he's telling the truth, he's telling the truth," Brigadier
General Botchie said.

Yates was not charged with attempting to fly an aircraft while over
the limit as he did not gain access to the plane. He denied a single
charge of carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function,
that of acting as first officer, while over the limit.