KCMH Pax Accuse WN Pilot of Alcohol on Breath

[Airbubba]

One in a continuing series...

PORT COLUMBUS INCIDENT
Travelers say they smelled alcohol, confronted pilot

Captain didn't fly; Southwest, FAA are investigating

Thursday, January 8, 2009 3:14 AM
By Kurt Ludlow and Andy Hirsch

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident Tuesday at Port Columbus in which two passengers accused a Southwest Airlines pilot of having been drinking.

The Chicago-based captain, who was preparing to pilot Flight 3396 to Orlando, Fla., was replaced by another Southwest captain, said a spokesman for the airline, which also is reviewing the matter.

The accused captain, now on paid leave, isn't being identified because he wasn't arrested and no charges have been filed. The plane he was to pilot, a Boeing 737 capable of carrying more than 120 passengers, ended up departing on time Tuesday afternoon.

According to a report filed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority police, Andy Maisner and business colleague Chan Mahon noticed the captain at a security checkpoint staffed by the Transportation Security Administration.

"As we went through security, we told the TSA guy, 'Hey, that pilot smells like he's reeking of alcohol. He ought to be checked out,' " Maisner told WBNS-10TV last night.

Maisner and Mahon, both California residents, followed the captain down Concourse A and become alarmed when they mistakenly thought he was heading to the gate where their flight was about to begin boarding.

"So we went up, and Chan said to the pilot, 'Hey, you just reek of alcohol, and if you've got a drinking problem, you shouldn't be flying this plane.'

"The guy just took off running. He didn't say, 'I haven't been drinking.' He just turned beet red and took off."

Airport police found the captain in a nearby restroom, where he'd traded his uniform jacket and cap for a "civilian" jacket, the report said.

While in the restroom, the captain apparently called the airline to report that he was sick, triggering his replacement on the Orlando-bound flight.

The police officers said the captain did smell of alcohol but didn't appear to be impaired. He told them that he had "partied hard" at his hotel the night before but that he hadn't been drinking that day, the report said.

Airline officials told police that the captain would be given a blood-alcohol test. No results were immediately available.

FAA regulations stipulate that no one can pilot an aircraft within eight hours of consuming alcohol or with a blood-alcohol content of 0.04 or higher.

It turned out that the plane Maisner and Mahon were about to board was adjacent to Flight 3396.


The Columbus Dispatch : Travelers say they smelled alcohol, confronted pilot (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/08/PILOT.ART_ART_01-08-09_B3_2ICF6JP.html)

Details from the police report here:

AIRLINE BIZ Blog | The Dallas Morning News (http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/01/heres-the-police-report-on-the.html)

[bubbers44]

My guess is the breathalyzer test will come back all Zero's. How easy it is to accuse a pilot of drinking now days. It seems to be a favorite passtime to evaluate pilots arriving at airports by passengers and TSA. Maybe we should test all passengers too. They are not allowed on the airliner if intoxicated.

[green granite]

It seems to be a favorite passtime to evaluate pilots arriving at airports by passengers and TSA.

With something like a thousand pilots a day going through Heathrow alone they don't find many do they.

[Airbubba]

How easy it is to accuse a pilot of drinking now days.

And he ran into the bathroom, changed clothes and called in sick to prove his innocence.:)

[FirstStep]

If this went down as described, I am very saddened. If the pilot in question was indeed on his way to a flight, and didn't have anything to drink, why bolt off?. Time to request a breath test, rather than avoid one. Why change out of uniform, a uniform that we as a group are proud to wear?. Is this panic?. This behavior is just the kind that causes the flying public concern as well as fodder for the hysterical media. If indeed he was sober, why run off?. This is the guy that makes those life/death decisions inflight right?
I also say if, as in mabye he was just jumpseating or d/h?. Not that you should smell of alcohol, but at least your not putting peoples lives at risk. Also, when I hear a story such as this, it often raises more questions than it answers.

[captjns]

IF the pilot is proven to be innocent, the passenger(s) in question should be prosecuted to the full extent the law will permit.

However, IF the passenger(s) in question were correct, and the news media continues to pursue the story, beware of vigilantism not only passengers, but anyone and everyone who crewmembers come in contact with from the airport to the hotel, while at the hotel, and back to the airport.

At the end of the day, how hard is it to follow one’s Company’s FOM/FARs when away from base on a sequence in public or private?

[cyclic gal]

Is it not ridiculous to suggest that passengers who thought they smelt alcohol on an airline pilot should be prosecuted if he hadn't actually consumed any.

If you were to smell what you thought was alcohol on a taxi driver for instance about to drive you and yours, would you not feel justified in saying anything and more to the point would you expect to be prosecuted if the driver hadn't been drinking.

Alcohol and work, be it flying, driving or whatever else dont mix and to suggest that people should be wary of reporting such instances in case they themselves are prosecuted is ludicrous.

[poss]

I find it very hard to believe that the pilot turned around and ran off... probably just the pax trying to make the pilot seem guilty or the media trying to spice the story up to get more readers.

[742]

Alcohol and work, be it flying, driving or whatever else dont mix and to suggest that people should be wary of reporting such instances in case they themselves are prosecuted is ludicrous.


Reporting to the authorities is one thing. Running off to the press with unproven allegations in order to get their 15 minutes of fame is something else.

[Airbubba]

Is it not ridiculous to suggest that passengers who thought they smelt alcohol on an airline pilot should be prosecuted if he hadn't actually consumed any.

I agree, that is a bit of a PPRuNe stretch, also the police officer smelled something and noted it in the report:

While speaking with Captain Shook, I smelled the stale stagnant odor of an alcoholic beverage.

_____________________

However, IF the passenger(s) in question were correct, and the news media continues to pursue the story, beware of vigilantism not only passengers, but anyone and everyone who crewmembers come in contact with from the airport to the hotel, while at the hotel, and back to the airport.

Reporting to the authorities is one thing. Running off to the press with unproven allegations in order to get their 15 minutes of fame is something else.

We've discussed this on other threads but, in the U.S. at least, the days when someone would see a crew drinking late with an early pickup and look the other way are long past. The right to show up for work as a pilot with the smell of alcohol on your breath has been severely abridged.

The media probably got involved in this incident since a police report was issued, I'm not sure that the pax went running to the newspaper with the story. And, in my experience, many of these incidents are never publicly reported, particularly if the ops or security people are the first to notice the signs of alleged alcohol impairment. In the U.S., an alcohol breath test can be done by the carrier if there is "resonable suspicion" of alcohol misuse.

From what I can see in the police report, looks like things were done by the book.

There is a real problem and I don't think it is with the pax.

[airfoilmod]

In my opinion, the smell of a "stale alcoholic beverage" can be the remnant of a binge prior, and not disqualifying. Also, the body excretes the metabolytes of alcohol for some time after the last drink, through the sweat glands, and can be mistaken for current use. The pilot's hasty retreat and change of clothing, if true, suggests an abuser who fears discovery, drunk or no.

The FAA's approach to alcohol has always been naive, in my opinion. A severely hungover pilot is a greater threat to flight safety than a mildly loaded one. My motto is 48 hours, bottle to throttle with a maximum blow of 0.00.

[airfoilmod]

The Constitution guarantees the right to confront your accuser. Except in the ignorant and toxic halls of PC corporate madness. This "shoot from the hip approach to civil rights". gets my goat.

[742]

The media probably got involved in this incident since a police report was issued, I'm not sure that the pax went running to the newspaper with the story.

It appears to me that they did. The alternative is that the police gave information to the press that allowed the press to track down the accusers.


"As we went through security, we told the TSA guy, 'Hey, that pilot smells like he's reeking of alcohol. He ought to be checked out,' " Maisner told WBNS-10TV last night.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

IF the pilot is proven to be innocent, the passenger(s) in question should be prosecuted to the full extent the law will permit.

Which "full extent", in any civilised society, will be "not at all". No place I would want to visit will have laws against people raising legitimate and honest concern that a crime might be under way.

[airfoilmod]

Agree heartily. There is civil recourse if the pax had other than pure motives.

[Airbubba]

The pilot's hasty retreat and change of clothing, if true, suggests an abuser who fears discovery, drunk or no.

And, there are legal issues of whether the pilot had reported for duty before he was caught.

Remember the drunk America West pilots at MIA claimed that they were not operating the aircraft since the towbar was still connected:

The pilots maintained they were not operating the aircraft because the Airbus 319 was being pushed by a runway tug and its steering was disengaged at the time it was ordered back to the terminal.

USATODAY.com - America West pilots convicted of being drunk in cockpit (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-06-08-drunk-pilots_x.htm)

The jury was apparently not impressed by this claim.

However, a British jury believed an American Airlines pilot when he said he drank whiskey in his sleep and showed up at the airport in uniform to tell the captain that he was unfit to fly:

American pilot who drank whiskey ‘in his sleep’ is cleared - Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1550909.ece)

After the 1990 Northwest Airlines alcohol incident in Fargo, North Dakota, Northwest (now Delta <g>) had a policy where you could admit that you weren't fit to fly, without penalty, up to the point where the Before Start checklist was read. Over the years the FAA has tightened up on this somewhat and you might cop a walk with the police but still be out of a job with no medical certificate or license.

The classic defense in many of the public cases is to proclaim innocence while checking into rehab. The America West pilots in MIA did this, perhaps hoping it would give them some protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The good news is that in many cases after the adverse publicity and legal issues subside, the pilots quietly resume their jobs under the auspices of a HIMS program ( HIMS - A Substance Abuse Treatment Program For Commercial Pilots (http://www.himsprogram.com/) ).

[fr8tmastr]

And he ran into the bathroom, changed clothes and called in sick to prove his innocence

I dont disagree that his actions look bad, but how sad it is that he has to prove his innocence. We used to have something in the Country that prohibited that. What was that document called? I would ask a politician what it was called but they surely have never heard of it... the Consti--something.

[airfoilmod]

You are being too literal. The post is meant to be sarcastic, and the poster likely shares your intolerance of impaired flying, and mine, and most others.

The Law is anchored in "Intent", as always.

[IcePack]

There has to be some re-course in law "slander" in certain cicumstances, or we could end up with pilots being reported by in-scrupulous individuals just to delay competitors flights or as retalitive measures. "I'll get that ***". So as proffessionals slighting our name may warrent court action. Don't dismiss the above out of hand as I've seen worse in the aviation industry.