I don't see anything specious in Rainboe's post.
The CSD/Purser was jailed for just over 7 weeks for going on duty with excess alcohol; the Captain tested negative but was jailed for 26 weeks for failing to prevent her (and apparently the FO) from doing so.
IMHO that is bizarre, and very unfair - despite the Captain's greater degree of responsibility as the person in charge of the entire aircraft.
Nor do I see anything inconsistent with views (apparently) expressed by Rainboe in previous posts. He didn't suggest pilots and cabin attendants should be punished equally. That would arguably have been inconsistent.
Assuming roughly similar levels, I think pilots going to work with excess alcohol should be regarded as more serious than CC doing so, and punishments should reflect that.
If a pilot makes a mistake the consequences could potentially be far more serious than CC doing so. The scope for pilots turning a problem into an emergency (or actually causing an emergency) if they fail to perform properly is surely far greater than that of CC - even they are the CSD/Purser/FSM/ or whatever title a particular airline uses for the senior person running the cabin.
(I believe this to be true, but I'm open to correction by pilots or CC if I'm wrong.)
NoD
As a general proposition, yes. It would obviously depend upon the lawyer and how open the court was to being persuaded by argument.
The two pilots convicted in the UK both went to prison for 6 months. If that's the sort of sentence a pilot is to receive, and if it is more serious for a pilot to be over the limit, then 45 days for the Purser isn't out of line.
I haven't yet managed to find out what offence the Captain was said to have committed so I'm as much in the dark as everyone else at the moment. I suppose something like 'Endangering an aircraft' is a possibility, but that seems rather 'sledge-hammer and nut' on the facts.
One of the Jetblast moderators lives in Norway. I'll PM her to find out if she's read any Norwegian press reports which mention the actual offence.
Last edited by Flying Lawyer; 25th Jun 2005 at 15:59.