I think that the ATSB absolutely slammed this bloke in a disgusting way. This Accident occurred in the afternoon. I spoke to him at 21:00 EST the night before and he wasn't showing signs of intoxication. I don’t doubt that he had a few beers the night before but to have an 0.0.81% at 17:00 the next day is highly unlikely considering
The pilot’s condition and demeanour on the day of the occurrence were reported to be normal.
To have a blood alcohol limit at this level, that late in the arvo he would have to have shown some signs of severe illness during the day. To my knowledge having smoked pot within the two weeks prior would have had negligible effect on his decision making. Talk about digging up crap. The important question is to ask why the engine quit!
What alarms me is the fact that on the news they did not mention the fact that the engine quit on him in a loaded up Cherokee six on a hot day. The ATSB and the media have NO RESPECT for a good man that was placed in a awful situation and directly in harms way.
There was insufficient evidence to definitively link the pilot’s prior intake of alcohol and/or cannabis with the occurrence.
If the evidence isn’t there that the BAC directly attributed to the crash, then dont disrespect a good man. As they say easy to blame the dead guy because he cant be there to defend himself/herself.
The ATSB should take a bow for being W#%nkers and the media, we all know that the pressure of whatever sells the papers or ratings will win over respect for our deceased and unfairly blamed colleagues.
As for the Preflight breath test, I’ve got nothing in principle against it but if it does go through, then I hope it isn’t used as a mechanism to terminate a pilots employment. Yet again when the Pollies jump in and stick up their dirty paws for pre parliament breath testing then there will be a level playing field. Standard that there is a double standard.
Sad day for the industry and respect to a deceased mate