From
www.people.co.uk :
BA PILOT 'DRUNK IN COCKPIT'
A BRITISH Airways pilot was arrested yesterday on suspicion of being drunk at the controls of his plane.
He was breathalysed by Swedish police as he prepared to fly 79 passengers from Stockholm to London.
The pilot, in his 50s and from London, was held in the cockpit of the Airbus 320 after airport staff noticed a smell of booze.
A police spokeswoman said: "They asked him to blow into the breathalyser. At first he refused, then said Yes. It was positive."
The £100,000-a-year pilot is said to have admitted drinking the night before BA's 8.35am Flight 771.
A BA spokesman said: "We have very strict rules governing the use of alcohol and a zero tolerance policy. If the allegation is proved, it will result in dismissal."
__________________________
And, in a somewhat related story about pilot impairment from The Guardian:
New hours could kill, say pilots
Andrew Clark, transport correspondent
Tuesday January 21, 2003
The Guardian
A European plan to harmonise the hours worked by airline pilots could put passengers' lives at risk, as exhausted crew struggle to stay awake in the cockpit, union leaders told the government yesterday.
The British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) said that the proposal, backed by the European parliament, could add up to two hours to a pilot's working day. Balpa's chairman, Mervyn Gramshaw, said this would leave his members unable to behave in an "intellectually sensible" way. Their concentration levels would be equivalent to a blood-alcohol level above drink-drive limits.
Mr Gramshaw, a Britannia Airways pilot, said: "Lives are at risk and will be put at risk."...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/airlines/s...878971,00.html