Airlines are so focused on banning drunk, obnoxious passengers – that they’ve forgotten to take inventory of their own house.
On a recent JetBlue flight, there was a drunk person alright – but it wasn’t a passenger. It was the pilot.
Yep, instead of “drunk driving” – JetBlue barely dodged a case of “drunk flying” – and just wait until you hear the details.
Wondering how a drunk pilot almost ended up flying an entire plane of people from Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale?
Well, as it turns out, he had downed about 7 or 8 drinks the night before his early morning flight – and was still drunk the next day.
While going through security, TSA noticed he was avoiding eye contact and not moving out of the way of others.
They notified the police – who entered the plane right before takeoff and removed the pilot to perform a series of sobriety tests.
Not only did he fail the breathalyzer – he blew FOUR times the legal limit allowed for pilots.
ABC7NY reported:
“Authorities say a TSA officer at Buffalo Niagara International Airport noticed the pilot was acting drunk, and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority removed him from the cockpit and gave him a Breathalyzer before the plane departed for Florida.
He reportedly registered a .17, twice the legal limit for driving in the U.S., but four times the legal limit for pilots.
Pilots face stricter blood alcohol level restrictions, with .04 being considered illegal.”
Crazy.
It’s one thing to have a good time while you’re off duty – but it’s entirely different to endanger lives entrusted to you on a commercial airplane.
Retired airline pilot John Nance agreed, and was stunned when he learned what happened.
ABC7NY continued:
“This couldn’t be any more serious. The idea of letting anyone who’s slightly impaired into a commercial cockpit with all those lives behind you and all those lives on the ground below you, it’s intolerable to have any impairment whatsoever and from the point of view of a pilot, this is the end of a career,” retired airline pilot John Nance said.”
While Proud American Traveler often reports on passengers behaving badly on planes – this story is up there with other airline employees who simply lost it.
Like the pilot and flight attendant who got into a scuffle that resulted in a broken arm and a tooth getting knocked out.
Or the off-duty flight attendant who hijacked the intercom system and told all passengers to put on their oxygen masks and take their seats – and then tried to open up the door of the plane – mid flight!
In this era of “new normal” – it’s no longer just naughty passengers one has to worry about.
What are your thoughts on this pilot who blew four times the legal limit?
Do you think he should be banned from ever flying a plane again? Or do you think he should get a second chance?
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(h/t Proud American Traveler)