So now how long before British pilots are arrested in UUDD (or similar) on some spurious charge which wouldn't stand water, but good for a diplomatic wind up? I fear for any British crews flying into Russia with Anglo Russian relations the way they are. Even if they can't arrest you, be prepared for some very thorough ramp inspections.
As for the drinking culture, why am I not surprised?!
RIX
Last edited by Romeo India Xray : 15th August 2008 at 14:06. Reason: Typo
That is exactly what will happen. Some crew will be tricked with either booze or drugs in russia as payback. All crews should be wary of the smiling bear,sad but probably going to happen.
The legal limit for flying is 20mg of alcohol compared with 35mg for driving
Could be misleading.
Aircraft crew: (a) in the case of breath, 9 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, (b) in the case of blood, 20 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, and (c) in the case of urine, 27 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres.
Driver: (a) in the case of breath, 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, (b) in the case of blood, 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, and (c) in the case of urine, 107 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres.
the aircraft was already on stand, so the pilots met it on stand 81, not in the hangar like stated...
the flight was suppose to depart at about 3am yesterday morning, but both pilots where 3+ times over the limit, subsequently both where taken to altringham police station in seperate cars to be questioned.
They could not speak a word of english, so an interpreter was drafted in to communicate.
finally got the aircraft pushed at 2.15(ish) yesterday, 2 crew, 2 aeroflot reps, one of which looked very tired started to take his anger out on me, as they missed their first slot.
Aeroflot often uses translators on the flight deck, or they used to. With the way Russian politics seems to be highly aggressive and extremely macho, I fear for some poor crew who will be sacrificed in a tit for tat. but if they were over the limit, they had to be stopped.
Unless I missed something, nothing appears to have been proven against these folks...yet.
Great quote from the security chimp to the Newspaper that something was clearly wrong because they had to hold onto the sides of the crew bus and were swaying. He clearly hasn't ridden many crew buses in his time.
Personally I find you get an easier ride swinging freely from the overhead handles.
I guess the facts and motives of this story can be as reliable as our media's reporting and implying that the Russians were the aggressors in Georgia. Nuff said.
Yes, I would be careful guys and girls. After the last diplomatic spat over a 'certain spy poisoning' we were ramp checked in St Petersburg by an agressive little upstart who couldn't even speak a word of English which was fine but it seemed to frustrate him that we couldn't speak Russian. So the dispatcher translated, he was determined to find something up with out aircraft and checked ever certificate, manual and the AOC. He then went into the cabin and looked at all of the safety equipment including life jackets before returning to the flight deck to check our inbound plogs to make sure we had completed a fuel check. In the end he scribbled on a little note pad and handed it to the dispatcher and left in his big blacked out power car. The dispatcher then informed us that we had been 'fined' for having newspapers on the flight deck floor, we decided to take our fine and get the hell out of there before he returned to fine us for having to much fuel in the tanks. This was obviously a politically motivated check as our airline was ramp checked in numerous Russian cities that week and threatened with aircraft impoundment. Wouldn't suprise me if an English crew are found drunk in the CIS someday very soon.
Aeroflot often uses translators on the flight deck, or they used to.
You don't get any Aeroflot 767 crew who are not able to handle English. This fleet spends half its time in English-speaking airspace. And huge numbers of Russians are now educated in English.
And I also doubt anyone here would like to be in the crew's shoes when they get back to Moscow. Don't think everyone in authority in Russia laughs at drinking.
Quote:
But in the USSR they just jump in .....
The USSR was wound up years ago.
Quote:
I guess the facts and motives of this story can be as reliable as our media's reporting and implying that the Russians were the aggressors in Georgia.
Actually the BBC have been quite accurate in this. More than can be said for George Bush's or David Cameron's understanding of the situation. I think the Russians in South Ossetia were pretty glad to have Putin around when they were attacked. More than our leaders would probably do to protect us.
May I suggest (subject to expert legal opinion)that if a foreign national's first language is not English, the UK Police are likely to cover themselves by providing an interpreter to avoid confusion and jeopardise the interview/case. The Russian Embassy may require an accredited translator to be present. A journo may abbreviate this explanation to 'the suspect could not speak English' We have all heard ATC traffic (Universal language - English) with foreign pilots or tried to communicate with our local bank via a call centre in India!
Kick the tires(location UK)are you English UK or English US? It may be critical when checking fuel load in gallons. Your immediate readback of G-STAWs post was inaccurate '..so a(n) interpreter..' but I bough to your communication skills.
I can't help but think that a quiet call to the Russian embassy, asking them to bring a van around and pick up the pilots, wouldn't have been a better solution than making it an international affair.
I'd be very cautious when flying in Russia. They have a different set of rules and regs there and if these are more stringent than those of JAA, you must follow them. A classic catch is Airport operating minima. If you are on an approach past the marker and you are told that the airport is below minima you are not allowed to continue even if your minima was lower than the Russian one. Many a crew been in trouble for this.
As for the political motivation for ramp checks in Russia, no doubt that this happens. "Putler's" Russia has taken huge steps towards the good old USSR and trust me Soviet Union is live and kicking, just caller Russia these days.
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