ANA pilot given four chances to pass breathalyzer test before flight cancelled

[Eboy]

All Nippon Airways canceled a recent flight from Fukuoka to Haneda Airport in Tokyo as the flight's captain failed a breathalyzer test with a reading exceeding the company's internal regulations, ANA said.

ANA flight canceled due to pilot's drinking : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri) (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111201005356.htm)

[Pinkman]

The interesting part is that the BAC did not change over an hour. Anyone who has studied elimination curves or played with a breathalyser for fun knows that in the early stages the BAC drops off incredibly quickly so the implication is probably that he was being truthful.

In a nation that has a genetic predisposition to reduced levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (key enzyme in alcohol breakdown), twelve hours bottle to throttle is remarkably short. 6 shots of posh shochu (35- 40% ABV depending on the brand) would easily do that - especially when taken with water which acts as a courier to get the alcohol through the stomach lining.

Sound more like a case for education and a change in policy.

[Basil]

According to ANA, the company detected about three times its regulated limit of 0.1 milligram of alcohol per liter
What's that in real money?

[MathFox]

He would have been slightly over the legal driving limit (220 microgram/liter) in the Netherlands. Would have appeared normal to a human observer (maybe a bit hung-over), Influence on reaction speeds can be shown in tests, if you can compare with results from zero alcohol tests.

[rotornut]

From Justice Blair of the Ontario Court of Appeal:

It is well-accepted in the case law and in the forensic science literature (a) that the elimination of alcohol from the body generally continues at a relatively constant rate which ranges from approximately 10 to approximately 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood per hour, and (b) that, after rising rapidly within approximately 30 minutes of the last drink, a person’s BAC will remain at a relatively constant plateau for approximately two hours, before declining at the foregoing rate. See Phillips and the academic legal and scientific literature relied on therein.

CanLII - 2010 ONCA 615 (CanLII) (http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2010/2010onca615/2010onca615.html)

[rennaps]

Even the chief of the FAA is charged with drunk driving

[20milesout]

You may note, that breathanalisers are not very accurate. They detect the alcohol, but only give vague figures. The correct BAC can only be determined by a blood sample.
Still, 0.3 milligram of alcohol after 12 hours - must have been six BIG glasses of shochu.

[rotornut]

You may note, that breathanalisers are not very accurate

I disagree but you can draw your own conclusions:

breathalyzer accuracy comparison - Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=breathalyzer+accuracy+comparison&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart)

[Lemain]

You may note, that breathanalisers are not very accurate.A friend of mine is a Dr turned Dr/statistician who does a lot of work for industry with new drugs and products. He has worked on the law enforcement intoximeters and says that they are highly accurate. They are quite different to the old chemical bag systems and the DIY pellistor which consist of a catalyst and thermistor that burns the ethanol, causing a rise in temperature, like a domestic gas detector. The modern ones use Infra Red light in a reference cell and a sensing cell. I've forgotten exactly the mode of operation -- you could google. They are highly accurate measuring the BA.

What they DON'T do is to show fitness to fly or drive! Nor do they necessarily give an accurate indication of blood alcohol which is why they've changed the law from a max. blood alcohol to a max. breath alcohol or blood alcohol.

[Ditchdigger]

You may note, that breathanalisers are not very accurate.


What I'd note is that the news media is not very accurate.

It could be that the level changed, but not enough to make him legal. The reporting could just be too lazy to draw that distinction...

[fmgc]

Whilst I in no way condone flying when drunk I wonder if he might not have been safer to fly than if he was fatigued which regulators do not seem to attach the same level of concern about.

Shame that there is no "fatiguealizer" that you can blow into!

[AvMed.IN]

the saga continues elsewhere - in India on the new year eve, a random check by DGCA found couple of aircrew drunk (http://www.avmed.in/2012/01/drunken-pilots-unsafe-lives-an-indian-story-unfolds/) while reporting for duty.

Should the onus be on individual, airline or both? So also, there may be a need to watch out for alcoholism, for it is a disease with thousand faces.

[Mowgli]

I agree fmgc. The new proposed FTL rules from EASA will make it even more likely to be flying whilst fatigued. It is an easy matter to deal with a very rare problem than face the elephant in the room. It would cost money to sort out fatigue which would put up the price of a ticket.

The WAKE UP campaign that BALPA is running needs greater exposure.

The effects of fatigue can be far worse than the effects of alcohol on a human's capability to carry out complex tasks.

A period of 24 hours without sleep is more detrimental in this context than the effects of alcohol at the UK drink/drive limit.

[captplaystation]

I think it is fair to say that in the "good old bad old days" some (:hmm:) individuals "may" have pushed the boundaries, usually on night-stops, of the 8hr rule, which lets be honest, only covered a couple of beers, & assuredly not getting severely wasted in a room party with booze procured at zero financial cost from an aircraft bar ( Oh Happy Days ! ! ! :cool: )
I think most "reckless" individuals who "may" have partaken in this behaviour would probably assess their ability, with a stinking hangover, as being superior to what they demonstrated after flying Europe to Tenerife/ Sharm el Sheikh & back, 12hrs duty , 10 in the air, arriving at 7-10 in the morning.
Of course the do-gooders will just say, Oh yes, alcohol clouds your judgement of how badly you were performing. . Er no, I was fully aware, as I was aware of my efforts after a 12hr night in "Hotel Boeing", the only difference is that one was legal, the other (maybe) wasn't. Same deterioration in performance, different reasons.

[mercurydancer]

Fatigue cant be measured by any blood test I am aware of. What is certain is that a fatigued aircrew who have any alcohol remaining in their system is going to be impaired. Its a compound problem where one exacerbates the former.

Alcoholism is certainly a disease, and needs careful treatment. Alcoholics just get used to the distorted perceptions of being well over the limit for almost any activity, be it driving or flying. It is definitely unsafe in any case. Perversely, a person well used to alcohol may well appear to be quite OK, especially in a morning, when the colleagues are worse for wear.