Yet another case of the TSA catching an alleged inebriate aviator:
FAA Investigates Aloha Pilot On Drunkeness
Oakland Police Detained Pilot Before Flight
POSTED: 3:39 pm HST March 30, 2004
HONOLULU -- Oakland police said an arrest of an Aloha Airlines co-pilot this weekend was the first time a pilot was arrested there trying to board a plane under the influence. The Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating the case.
Aloha Airline employees familiar with the incident say the first officer has been working for Aloha for about two years.
Sources said Aloha employees realized Saturday something was wrong when the pilot did not respond to his wake-up call and then missed the crew call and shuttle ride to the airport. When the pilot showed up at the airport, screeners thought they smelled alcohol as the co-pilot went through security.
"Three TSA people all looked at each other and said, 'Did you smell what I smelled?' It was a strong odor of alcohol about his person," Sgt. Larry Krupp of the Oakland Police Department said.
The supervisor followed him and called police checked the plane, but he wasn't there
"(He) found the first officer doing the preflight inspections, asked him to come up to the gateway… the jet way. "The presence of alcohol was very evident on his body and breath; he had red glassy eyes, a disheveled look. He definitely appeared to be under the influence of alcohol," Krupp said. "At 9:14, we did the first (alcohol blood) test, a second test two minutes later, then at 10:50, (we) took him to the hospital blew a .103."
The FAA said a breath test indicated the pilot had a blood alcohol level of .18. The legal limit for pilots is .04. That means he was more than four times the legal limit.
At that point, Oakland police were called and the pilot was detained. Employees stress he never got onboard the plane.
"This pilot will not be flying until our investigation is finished and if at the end of the investigation we determine that he was indeed intoxicated when he was attempting to get on the plane, then both of his licenses will be revoked. That's both his pilot's license and medical certificate," said Donn Walker of the FAA.
Employees said the pilot is now in rehab. Pilots must wait at least a year to get their certificates restored. They also have to go through an approved rehab program and re-take all tests required to fly. Even then there is no guarantee they FAA will re-issue the licenses.
Pilots are also banned from drinking eight hours before a flight.
The morning flight from Oakland to Honolulu was delayed less than one hour. A backup pilot was quickly called in.
The FAA said this type of incident is extremely rare. They point to the latest available statistics from the year 2000. In that year, 10,257 pilots were randomly tested for drugs and alcohol. Of those, only five tested positive.
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news...99/detail.html