"When has there been an accident primarily due to intoxication?"
OK, I've only just arrived back.
It's less than 18 hours since I responded (somewhat discourteously, I will concede) to sharksandwich's above question.
I notice that sharksandwich subsequently clarified his original post to say that he was referring only to AIRLINE accidents.
I did state that I'd had personal experience with a few alcohol-induced tragedies - THREE, to be specific, all of them 'private' flights.
One, in particular, witnessed by many of us, stands out.
A number of us were enjoying an after-work beer at the High Flyer Hotel at Bankstown. (This was around '83-'84).
We did notice a heated discussion developing on the other side of the room between people, some of whom were known to us from the airport.
One young fellow, in particular, seemed to be getting a bit excited. He subsequently left and things quietened down.
After having had my couple, I said my goodbyes and left to drive home.
As I was leaving, I heard an aircraft apparently 'buzzing' the hotel. At the time, I didn't make any connection between the earlier arguing and the 'unusual' flying happening overhead.
Some distance down the road, I heard the aircraft noise suddenly cease and looked around to see a sizeable fire near the airport boundary.
I turned around and went back to see emergency services already arriving on the scene. Nothing could be done but to extinguish the flames.
It turned out that the argumentative young chap, a student pilot, had (quite intoxicated, it seems) gone across to the flying school, knocked off one of their aircraft and proceeded to demonstrate to people in the pub what he was made of.
(I saw some of his remains the following morning, so I know what he WAS made of.)
etrang; I said a FEW - 3, actually. Please take the trouble to read paragraph 2 of my original post. I implied nothing, statistically, beyond that.
49th; OK, I've given you ONE. I think that's as much as I want to relate in one post, thankyou. Stay tuned.
Flying Lawyer; Oh, I see, so there's no difference between 'any' and a statistically 'minute number'? Hmm.