Korean Air defends pilot who tried to drink alcohol during flight

[Mac the Knife]

Working at a large teaching hospital in France in the 70's I was surprised to see that everything stopped at lunchtime and dinner, when the drs retired to the Doctors Mess for a formal lunch. One glass pf beer/wine was normal, but >1 seen as bad manners.

I expect that has disappeared, though the tradition of walking around the table, tapping each diner a "handshake" on the shoulder before you took your place apparently remains in some.

Mac

BTW: they also had a 'night chef' for the doctors - no curling sarnies as in my time in the UK, but a fresh steak and chips if you wanted. Nowadays you can get a Diet-Coke from the machine, but that's about all. How times change....

[Paying Guest]

Originally Posted by Globocnik : That said, at the French base at Cazaux, where their ‘force de frappe’ guys were based, wine was available on tap at lunchtime, and regularly imbibed by the guys on QRA, in their goon suits. As it was at L’Orient and Landivisau. The mess at Nîmes-Garons has its own domaine and this was served at lunch and dinner. And bloody good it was to. So it was part of the culture then, mid 80’s or so. Suspect long gone.

was detached for a month to the flight test centre at Marignane for some trials and in the restaurant there at lunchtime, when in flying kit, would routinely be asked "red or white?" when getting to the end of the servery.

[Longtimer]

Originally Posted by bill fly

Jumping to conclusions isn’t a good idea on this forum... In 72 I joined SR. The rules were that the only place one could drink in uniform - after flight nota bene - was in the Staff restaurant or in the Crew House - SR‘s own crew hotel in GVA.

I never saw alcohol consumed either before flight or in a cockpit, short or long haul. There was an eight hour bottle to throttle rule, which might be a bit lenient these days - was the same as in the RAF.

Went to some IATA meetings in GVA by the way to observe freight prices being fixed. Could it have been with you?

Not involved in anything like that. Dangerous goods, communication (message formats) , ULDs and live animal handling. Don't remember any pilots in our groups.
Re the wine, I def. saw the trays going into the cockpit, never of course saw any consumption and I would have been surprised if there was any but the presence of the bottles on the trays did of course create speculation.

[Herod]

I managed to get a look inside a Guppy once. The engineer was knocking back the wine, because, he said, the aeroplane frightened him! We were offered some, but with flying being imminent, declined.

[ifylofd]

Apparantly......

At the same time, behavioral researchers sought to understand the physiological and psychological effects of drinking. Drinking profoundly alters mood, arousal, behavior, and neuropsychological functioning. However, studies have found that the specific effects depend not just on how much someone drinks, but also on whether blood alcohol content (BAC) is rising or falling; while in the process of drinking, alcohol acts as a stimulant, but as drinking tapers off it begins to act more as a sedative.

As BAC ascends, drinkers report increases in elation, excitement and extroversion with simultaneous decreases in fatigue, restlessness, depression, and tension. Conversely, a descending BAC corresponds to a decrease in vigor and an increase in fatigue, relaxation, confusion, and depression.

(Recall a study that pretty much proved that a single glass had more overall benefits to the average person.)

[reivilo]

The whole story to me sounds like an expat pilot deadheading home in business class and asking discretely for a cup of wine..
Probably against company rules but not really an issue flight safety wise

[Longtimer]

Originally Posted by reivilo

The whole story to me sounds like an expat pilot deadheading home in business class and asking discretely for a cup of wine..
Probably against company rules but not really an issue flight safety wise

Or maybe was hoping to get a couple of miniatures to take home.

[Biggles44]

I would be surprised if, in this day and age, the Korean pilot demanding a drink was made seriously. I did fly the 747 with KAL in the mid '90s and did witness the second captain enjoying wine with his meal before proceeding upstairs to operate the second half of the 14 hour flight. Appropriate action was discretely taken. While flying the 747 for AF in the early '90's, a wee bottle of wine was always present on the tray when my crew meal was delivered to me on the flight deck. It would have been churlish to refuse, so it simply disappeared into my flight bag.

[nolimitholdem]

Originally Posted by JumpJumpJump

I'm going to go with...

Sequence of events is true....

... But.....

I reckon the captain put his hand out to the drinks making a bad joke, with no intent to drink, and likely in the preboarding moments with no passengers on board... The Cabin Manager pulled him up on this and they bickered a little... Later in the flight the Captain twisted the knife with the poor joke along the lines of..

Cabin Manager: Would you guys like anything to drink
Captain: Yes "Bring me wine" haha guffaw guffaw etc.

No flag carrier management would have come to this decision otherwise.

I'm not the sort to defend all pilots in all circumstances... Would be interesting to know if she was a known trouble maker by the point of conflict.

My theory is backed up by the report that the first officer and not the captain had the altercation

^^^
This.

Having done time in that part of the world, I would consider this, combined with the usual "lost in translation" factor, by far to be the most likely explanation of the bizarre story.

But do continue regaling us with stories of other airlines in the 70's...