Flight delayed due allegedly drunk cabin crew member
 

Taken from BBC Scotland website

A member of cabin crew has been arrested on a plane which was about to depart from Aberdeen Airport following concerns she may have drunk too much.

The BMI flight to Faro in Portugal, containing 144 passengers, was delayed for six hours after police arrived to detain the 24-year-old.

It is understood the 0900 BST departure was halted after colleagues of the woman expressed concern.

A report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.

The Airbus A320 plane eventually took off just after 1530 BST, after a replacement crew member was found.

Grampian Police officers breathalysed the woman, believed to be English, before she was arrested.

An Aberdeen Airport spokesman said: "The airport was made aware of an issue with a member of cabin crew and the police were alerted.

"It was unfortunate passengers were subjected to a lengthy delay."

A BMI said it was co-operating fully with the police investigation

I loved the reference that the crew member is English.

Rwy in Sight

Quite... They wouldn't say, "believed to be black", now would they?

BBC twonks
 

Reference to nationhood totally out of order in that report. Feel free to slay the bbc over this, I have complained.

Or Scottish............

Couldn't they fly the service with 1 crew down?? Most of the other airlines I have flown with (BA, VAA, AF) seem to do this..just curious!

They might have already been operating with minimum crew. It's only allowed to operate with less than minimum crew in extreme circumstances, and only if you are down route at the time.

Took six hours to find a sober replacement?

Shurely not... :yuk:

No, it took six hours to get a member of crew to Aberdeen, which is a bmi Regional base (ERJ fleet) NOT a Mainline base (Buses).

One would like to think that this could have been dealt with at crew report prior to boarding passengers, i don't condone this but many have been there. At a guess it seems like a night stop crew, not a lot to do in Dyce:sad:

Fifteen posts thus far, five off topic and deleted.

I'd really like not to have to monitor this thread all night so can we stay on topic please? Anyone feeling unable to exercise self control let me know and I can click the button labelled 'Thread Ban' for you.

Thanks.

Duck

6 hour delay - how close would the aircrew be on hours or did they change as well?

Runway 31.

Your thread title says crew member was drunk. In your first post where you quote the story you say she may have drunk too much.

Innocent until proven guilty? Or do you have information that the rest of us don't?

It is a shame the rest of the crew didnt protect her from herself and 'prevented' her from operating at the briefing stage.

We should be careful with jumping to conclusions though - wouldnt be the 1st time hypoglacemia has been mistaken for drunkenness, or that the press have taken a story totally out of context. A former cc friend of mine was hounded (literally) by the press over a 'drunk onboard story' which was completely unfounded and almost destroyed her life.

As always - lets reserve judgement until we know the facts.

On the other hand, Lauderdale, the story could well be true.
The police will investigate, and the county will press charges, if it is warranted.

Wouldn't be the first time, now would it?:rolleyes:

'Reverse thrust' was common years ago for FD crew...perhaps the CC have not come to terms with the fact that folks are actually looking for misbehaviour, nowadays.

Shape up...or ship out.

Agree with all the comments asking why this wasn't sorted out in the privacy of the crew room?? ................though reading the report again it isn't clear whether this was on board the aircraft or not.

No problems with the BBC mentioning that she was English. It is a fact, not a racial slur. There is no inference that ALL English flight crew are drunks.

I agree with glad rag. It is not a fact that they were Engish. The crew may or may not have been based south of the border, but with the amount of Europeans bmi have recruited to cover their midhaul routes this person could be any nationality, so they may not have been British never mind English

I too have complained to the BBC over these comments. It is the sort of nationalistic crap that the Scots like to use, particularly with respect to the English. It is, in fact, racism of the highest order and really should not be tolerated in the Media, particularly the BBC who are supposed to be aware of this sort of thing.

Had the report stated "Grampian Police officers breathalysed the woman, believed to be Black, before she was arrested," there would be uproar!

It was unnecessary to the article and as such warrants a complaint. It's very much like saying to the (probably mainly Scottish) readers who would read between the lines... "if it had been a Scottish girl then none of you would have been inconvenienced on your holiday trip."

No wonder everyone on this website hates journalists!

I would imagine that the reson she was referred to as English was to point out the news worthy and unusual element to the story.Most Haggis bashers would assume it was just another Paisley pishheed or Mrs Rab c nesbit and not regard it as unusual behaviour. Thus not news.

thats not a fair comparison -for drunk passenger reports, althought the 'drunkenness' is not proven, the behaviour that caused the incident most certainly isn't. If a pax goes on the rampage, hitting crew members, trying to open doors etc, to be honest who cares if they really are drunk or not. They have still caused a major incident and broken the law.
I'm not defending this crew member if they were drunk, however there have been enough cases recently of malicious accusations (mainly from security) that the outcome of this should be awaited before throwing too many stones. The alcohol limits we work to are very low and the police aparently generally have to arrest people upon an accusation and cart them off for a blood test as teh breathaliser doesn't work to such low limits. in most recent cases the person concerned has been found to be innocent once all the evidence has come back.

and PS the 'english' bit in the story IS well out of order IMO. Unfortunately typical racist crap we've come to expect recently from north of the border. Funny how english / british / irish nationalism is a synonym for racism or terrorism, but scottish nationalism is somehow ok,even though they preach an incredibly racist message. :rolleyes:

Andy Murray is British. Fact. :cool:

Quote:
Good grief. If this had been a report about an allegedly drunken passenger, there'd have been none of this "innocent till proven guilty" and "could just have been a medical condition" malarky. Just the usual mob hollering to lock 'em up and throw away the key.

Funny that - in all my years of flying have seen hundreds (if not thousands) of drunk slf on board a/c, hundreds of verbal assaults, and dozens of physical incidents (including many sexual harrassements), 99.9999% of which never get reported as this sort of behaviour seems to have been accepted as normal.

When was the last time you operated a slot 3 IBZ Gobonastick? Exactly.

However I have never heard of crew assualting slf in any way shape of form. I am just taking a resposnsible stance where I believe in innocent til proven guilty and take whatever is reported in the press with 10 kilo's of salt.

While airlines keep on employing kids (first job, first time away from home/hotel, easy access to booze etc etc), (cuz they are soooo cheap to employ, and will not argue with sometimes atrocious management) these things will happen - whilst the industry pays peanuts often the responsibility should be sought there.
Are you flight crew 411A? Cuz if you are then please don't tell me you have never sat in a hotel room minus 4 hours to report haveing a bevvy or two. Fact that the you (or I for that matter) have never been 'caught' doesnt give us the God given right to start passing willy nilly judgement on others.

;)

Having first flown as crew in 1990 I joined then then Britannia Airways at the very tail end of landing drinks. It was being stamped on then and only a few die-hards indulged. At least in the UK. Since returning to flying as crew it is only ever heard of as a throw back to the golden days and in my experienced certainly not practiced.

Landing drinks are not common practice. Full stop.

And the girl has not been charged according to the article so remains an innocent person under suspicion of an offence. Could the problem have been identifed earlier? It may well have been, but the benefit of doubt may have been applied due to operational pressure, until it was clear that the right thing to do was to stop the flight and investigate.

What kind of professional forum is this ? What has the nationality to do with being professional and not flying drunk ? I find ridiculous to start those discussion about the crew maybe not being English or Scottish... is it what does really matter ?!? Wherever she/he may come from, the problem comes from the alcohol issue.
Of course if the moderator has no other choice than to ban me when I mention that alcohol is a real issue in UK AND in many other countries, then he can proceed (which would demonstrate solid elaboration).
My personal feeling is that attitude toward alcohol has been drifting for years. When I was living in French Britany it was very common to see hundreds of drunk students in the streets every fridays, some of them throwing up and peeing in their pants while others were just destroying whatever was around them. It's absolutely irresponsible to neglect the dangers of alcohol and just to relate it to funny parties. People are dying and some other are killed everyday because of alcohol. While it's not a problem to have fun with it, it is a social issue and an education matter.

"Grampian Police officers breathalysed the woman, believed to be English, before she was arrested"

What the police believed about the nationality of the drunk crew member I care less! We are wise enough not label a nation based on this article so don't be so touchy about that!

Professionally speaking the situation is severe no matter the sex of the crew member but for me the situation is even more disgusting as the person involved is a woman!!! Its a shame! :=

Did she fail the "walk the wing" test then?

Sounds like a revision of the trad. song is in order:-

"What shall we do with a drunken hostie? ...
... Put her in the galley with a sick-bag near her ..." etc

Holiday jet stuck for hours by arrest of cabin crew girl - Press & Journal

Here is the story from our wonderful (not) local rag.

I must agree with PC767, Landing Drinks are not commonplace anymore. I have been flying for 6 years with 3 different airlines (therefore hundreds of sectors and colleagues) and I have never, ever, heard of, or experienced anyone having Landing Drinks in that time. It's a thing of the past.

It is not commonplace by any means, so please don't lead others, who may not have first hand knowledge of the industry, to think it is.

I second that last post - last time is saw that going on was 1996-1997'ish.

Yes, in my experience landing drinks have, regrettably, gone.
Just to make the point clear: 'landing' drinks were usually brought to the flight deck after arriving on the stand.
Allegedly, and perhaps a US Pruner can confirm, FAA inspectors noted a crew having a drink on the flight deck and decided to make an issue of it :(

In this case, landing drinks don't appear to be relevant.

Nationality has no relevance.

Landing drinks / choctails....went out with the Atlantic Barons.

Virgin pilot removed from flightdeck for being drunk..........turns out he was on a diet!!!

Let's minimise the speculation and wait for a more accurate police report.

Innocent until proven guilty.

More info after a court appearance yesterday, again from the BBC

An air stewardess has appeared in court charged with drinking alcohol before working on a plane.

******** ********, 24, is alleged to have been working on a BMI Airbus A320 while over the drink-drive limit when she was arrested.

The aircraft was due to leave Aberdeen at 0900 BST on Sunday and was bound for Faro in Portugal's Algarve region.

Ms *******, from Liss, Hampshire, made no plea and the case was continued at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

The 24-year-old was charged with performing an aviation function with 57 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml in her system, contrary to the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 Section 93 (1).

The drink-drive limit is 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath.

The flight eventually took off just after 1530 BST on Sunday.

Her solicitor Mike Munro told the court he needed more time to look into the act under which she was charged because he had never dealt with such a case before.

The case was continued until later in August.

Poor kid, must have been hamered if she was still showing that blood/alcohol level at report at 09:00, she must have had some sleep.

It wont stop here, who was she drinking with (she wasn't local crew) i expect the entire industry will get a memo from their flight ops over the next few days.

After landing drinks, the good old days lol! only seen it once about 15 years ago, ironically that was in ABZ , seemed a waste to poor good champange down the loo

I hope bmi look after her and not just throw here to the lions, she will probably get fined more than Globespan did for ignoring the MEL and of course she's English so throw away the keys:suspect:

Fly drink limit much lower !!

Drink-Driving Law in the UK

The Legal Limit The UK legal limit for drivers is 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, often referred to as a BAC or blood-alcohol concentration. In US terms this would be expressed as 0.08%. This is alternatively expressed in terms of breath alcohol - 35 µg (microgrammes) per 100 ml (which is now the usual official measure in the UK), or alcohol in the urine - 107 mg per 100 ml.

Been covered elsewhere but chapter and verse here
Sobering (literally) point for non professional aviation Pruners is that our limit is a quarter of the drink drive limit.

Landing drinks, what a silly idea. You might spill it. Best to get it down yer neck in the cruise. :p

As the partner of a senior CC member and someone who travels a lot with them I can honestly say I have never experienced 'landing drinks'.
Years ago maybe (my father was a 707 captain) the practice was common.
My partner allows at least 24hrs between any drink and working. Thus, a backtoback N. Atlantic trip involves no alcohol at all.
My own experience of being downroute many times is that the vast majority of people abide by this.
One thing that would put the publics mind at rest over this is random drink and drug test; something already in place in other industries and not at all uncommon with airlines.
Everyone would then know quite clearly where they stand, no ifs buts or maybe's..

Even if she is found guilty?

I think its fair to say that in any industry if you are guilty of being p*ssed at work then your employer has no obligation to look after you.

The drinks were not forced down her neck, if it turns out she is guilty, then unlucky, tough t*tties, and she should be sacked..... she ran the risk, and got caught, end of.