Booze and Passengers

[malc4d]

I was just reading an AOPA article about how the Feds might crack down on flying intoxicated passengers and enforce 91.17 b on pilots operating commercial or GA flights.
How do you guys handle 'the intoxicated passenger', has anyone ever told a paying customer, or friend, that s/he's too drunk to fly and left them behind ??:rolleyes:

Sec. 91.17 - Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft --

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;
(2) While under the influence of alcohol;
(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or
(4) While having .04 percent by weight or more alcohol in the blood.

(b) Except in an emergency, no pilot of a civil aircraft may allow a person who appears to be intoxicated or who demonstrates by manner or physical indications that the individual is under the influence of drugs (except a medical patient under proper care) to be carried in that aircraft.

[con-pilot]

How do you guys handle 'the intoxicated passenger'

In nearly 40 years that has only happened to me a few times. My method is to raise the cabin alitude to 10,000 feet and they go to sleep.

[lemay]

That could be one solution... :ok:

But it remains a problem: having (a significant) fare-paying passengers on board who are obviously drunk. Best thing is to have clear outlines in form of company SOP's for this scenario. Otherwise you end up argueing with angry and agressive people on board your airplane - and you might not have a reinforced cockpit door that you can close behind you. And after you're back home you'll 'get the boot' for disrepectful behaviour towards a key customer. Great.

Seems to me that East European nouveau-riches represent the bulk of these customers. Without any prejudice or generalization, but I certainly did have my share of them...

[HS125]

A significant problem I can see here is that no provision is made in 91.17 (b) for the pax becoming intoxicated during the flight.

Sending them to sleep wont help when they stumble off at the other end as thats presumably how it would be enforced.

[malc4d]

As a follow-on ..............
Does the FAA send out 'flying' inspectors, can your 'N' reg GA or biz jet get ramped checked anywhere outside of the US..............??

[flying68]

Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft




The European Community Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) programme was established by the European Commission (EC) in 1996 as a voluntary programme. The principles of the programme are simple: in each EU Member State and those States who have entered into a specific ‘SAFA' Working Arrangement with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), third country aircraft may be inspected. These inspections follow a procedure common to all Member States and are then reported on using a common format. If an inspection identifies significant irregularities, these will be taken up with the airline and the oversight authority. Where irregularities have an immediate impact on safety, inspectors can demand corrective action before they allow the aircraft to leave.
Further information can be found at http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/s_safa.php (http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/s_safa.php)