LHR Breathtest. Update: Captain jailed
 

London Radio station Heart 1062 news just reported a pilot has been breathalysed at Heathrow (and presumably failed same) Can't find anything on BBC or Ananova... Anyone else heard this one?

Yes it's a fact. A Captain on this morning's Royal Brunei was arrested after failing a breath test. He was due to operate a flight out of LHR. He was taken to Heathrow Police Station under arrest.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3859177.stm

Nige321:uhoh:

Captain's name appears in morning papers.

Reported by security who were ".. concerned about the way the pilot was behaving"

Bailed to appear again in August

HD probably as one is innocent until proven guilty. :(

COWPAT - check your PM

Thought Royal Brunei was a dry airline!

Well whatever the circumstances, I hope the guy can get to be with his family - i.e. passport returned while "details" are sorted by authorities. I hope the British authorities are more humane in their handling of this fellow than the Loudoun County authorities in Virginia.

Virgin apparently still have a senior Captain stuck in the USA (passport confiscated) barred from return to his home in Oxford, and awaiting trial in August for an alleged offence back in December......

Everyone be super careful out there....the TSA are watching/smelling , having entitled themselves to be untrained alcohol police. I suggest brushing one's teeth with anchovy paste, instead of toothpaste, prior to embarking on a close up conversation with the Thousands Standing Around.....

Just had one of our "drivers" get breathalysed twice before being released to fly by TSA and OAK airport police. "Offence"? - doing a tour of Simi Valley wineries and having the audacity to be carrying two (unopened) bottles of California wine back home with him. No alcohol at all on breath but he was referred by TSA to airport police. Flight out two hours late.......

Yep, if you show up drunk for a flight in the U.S., expect to be arrested these days. It may not be fair but flying drunk is not the great joke we all used to talk about on the crew bus anymore. Times have changed...

Here we go again....

Of course its all the TSA/BAA security peoples fault that some poor pilot who has had too much to drink has been arrested.....

I don't hear too many of you complaining that drugs dealers are often 'grassed' on, or people who rob banks are often informed on, why is there such an outcry if its a pilot? At the end of the day, dealing drugs, theft and having blood alcohol concentration when on duty as as aircrew are all crimes.

Personaly I have no problem with security informing police, in fact i would rather they did. If he had passed the first breath test, then there would have been no problem, he was arrested, so he obviously didn't. The report doesn't make it clear whether he was bailed to appear in court, or bailed to return to Heathrow Police stn, time will tell if he's gulity, in the meantime why have a go at people who are doing something for most other crimes you would encourage

Very sad to see the erosion of professional standards.

Hope this is the last!

How naïve

Just for the sake of correctness, the Pilot in question no longer works for Virgin as he handed in his notice the day before court hearings earlier this year but yes as far as I am aware he is still in the USA.

Oh srs what,

That makes the difference! Stand by the man, innocent until guilty?

For christ sake , when are you girls going to grow up.
If you drink and then slip on the uniform whilst still under the cloud then you get all you have comming to you....and more!
And as to this particular case, the person in question has been released for an apearance before "the man" at a later date. What else would you bleeding hearts have the authorities do........send him a case of champagne?
Toughen up!

Dogma.....'standby the man, innocent until guilty?.?

In your defence, I'm sure what you meant to say was, 'reserve your judgement, until proven guilty'?

That would have made a lot more sense and would be a balanced view. Our justice system allows for the opportunity that an individual has the right to defend himself and the prosecution must be able to deliver the evidence beyond reasonable doubt that he has actually commited such a crime.

The above human right ensures that even villains are not punished until such time as the evidence proves the facts; it does not mean that such villains are innocent until such time, as the evidence often proves they were guilty at the time they commited the crime.

It serves to protect the few innocent that might appear to be guilty, from punishment unless the evidence can prove they did commit the crime.

The system also allows for some that are actually guilty, to escape punishment because the weight of evidence is insufficient to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the individual is guilty. Would that make such a person innocent? Yes, in the courts eyes, but not in reality!

Pilots are human beings and as such, just as prone to break the law as any other individual, but I guess there would be a tendency on a forum such as this to assume that we are all above such naughtiness!

See the difference?

Job is now ****, don't wanna do it any more. I can earn far more from other ventures.. The thread regarding " how good is an airline pilot's job", I am not replying to, but it is ****.

ILS

I agree, it's not what it used to be, but neither is driving a car whilst intoxicated any more. 40 years ago, public perception of getting tanked up and weaving oneself home without hitting a lampost was considered good sport.

Times have changed.

The job now is not what it used to be, but that is not because pilots can no longer arrive for work still bearing the worst from an excess the evening before.

JTL
Thanks for the comments. The drinking to me is not the problem as I don't drink to excess. The commercial pressures due to bad man management concern me. Our industry is run by accountants who do not understand the way we work. They are pressurising us to make errors or to make us work with extra pressure. At the moment our industry is unsafe due to the bad management. I cannot forsee myself staying in the job for more than one more year. May fly g4/5's or lr45's for fun.

and just who should run an airline? God forbid you say a Pilot!

Times have changed, airlines need to make money if they want to keep going.......just like every other business, accountants help achieve that.

You're right times have changed........for just about everybody, it's a tough old - competitive- World!

Anyway, what's that got to do with drinking too near to duty time?

there would be nothing wrong with a pilot running an airline, it would be far better than an accountant. Let's look a at NATS for example. Who runs it, accountants or ex operational staff? If you want to run a professional industry then let the professionals run it. The financial people have to accept it and the sales people have to get on their arses and generate more income to pay for it. Look at airports, who continually reduce pay rises, not because they can't afford it but because the "sales" staff cannot generate the income. In modern industry if the sales are not up then the company goes down. If the aviation industry does not come to terms with this idea then it will fail.
Comments please

Sorry nothing to do with drinking before duty time, but wanted to get my halfpennyworth in.