Alcohol tests in AMS
 

Pass on that NOTAM.

A full crew had to pass an alcohol test while going through security check in AMS (at the crew center).
That happened on a monday morning, early shift, after a full W-E in Amsterdam. The results were negative.
Beware...

Actually this has been happening regularly for the past three years or so..... And it's caught a few crews out already I must say.

for what??

They were tested at the security check point, in public, in front of anyone who happened to be around?. Welcome to the police state of Holland, at least they could have the courtesy to take people aside and do the test in private, what a bunch of w*****s.

Mind you better a breath test than having your bits felt by the over zealous security people they seem to have there now, perhaps if you are really lucky you can have both.

Yeah, at the crew centre where there is often a huge queue of crews and airport staff waiting to go airside and where the security screening area is made of glass and is visible from both sides. Crew centre or not, a test conducted there is in public, not in front of the fare paying public perhaps but public none the less. There could easily have been 20-30 people watching and whilst the test wouldn't involve anything that would be embarrassing I would expect it to be conducted away from the gaze of the rest of the crews and staff using the facility. Not unreasonable I would have thought.

Given the incidence of "air rage" One would have thought maybe they should be testing passengers for alcohol?

According to the chappies (and chapesses) in the Marechausse who do the "trapping", there is a big purge in progress in AMS at the moment. Don't bother arguing with these people, they are very typically Dutch (brusque, inflexible and inconsiderate) and have the law (and guns) on their side. Those who imbibe, beware!

alcoholchecking...
 

Funny that when I read thru the posts most responses are worried about "beiing exposed" to colleagues and public rather than about the fact that these checks are aimed at discouraging crews to use alcohol in such a way that it endangers safety of passengers and fellow crewmembers.... If you dont have anything to fear..... who cares that people watch you and as far as I am concerned, anyone that DID use alcohol at a time that it endangers safety (jobwise i mean... ) may be seen by anyone beiing arrested , showing that these things are NOT acceptable....

proost.....
:hmm:

Unfortunately give someone a little bit of authority & they want to be the 'big I am'. I do not drink & fly, that is thoroughly unproffesional. However prior to a 12 hour trip, I do not think it is condusive to flight safety to be subjected to almost ritual humiliation by being forced to undergo breath testing infront of the passengers. By all means test, but not infront of passengers who may already be extremely nervous about their forthcoming flight. For the most part we are professionals and should still be treated as such. When we get airborne our minds should be on the job at hand, not on how we have been treated as criminals on the way to the gate. The press would have the public believe that we are all alcoholics, that is not the case.

Max Angle and Exvicar

Read before you put your foot in your mouth..... It was not in public but at the crew center.

It is a clean and honest way off dealing with proffesionals. unbiassed i would think. eventhough i don't like it.

And max angle .... talking about police state.... wasn't it in the UK that a captain got pulled from his aircraft after bogus "alleged" claims from an over zealuos security guard?
I think it has been pondered enough that we dislike the way security measures are applied at the crew level. No need to discuss this any further but i think you should get out a bit more and you might discover it to be far less than perfect at your own doorstep

Pointer :E

Stage 1 - denial!!

:} :}

Perhaps the true test of who is a professional is who can actually spell is correctly.

Sorry, after I have had too much to drink spelling is the first thing to go out of the window! Could I sell my story as an exclusive to the papers? Something along the lines of 'Pilot has drink 4 days prior to flight'.

Now I am not condoning drinking and flying:

Are we not making a bit of a strom in a teacup here? Why have the authorities got into this big acohol and drug testing thing over the last few years?

How many accidents/near accidents have actually been attributable to the pilot/s being under the influence of alcohol?

I was part of a crew that was tested about 10 min before pushback. The guy's showed up at the jetway and said take this test and then be on your way.
This was about 3 years ago.
It has been going on for a while and ALPA knew and warned us to expect it.

fmgc..... I think it's the old corporate umbrella thing , if anything happens then they as 'managers' are not responsible , Hatfield , etc. etc . At the Maastricht UAC since a few weeks , we now have regular alcohol and drugs tests , seemingly the Dutch Aviation Police told management " If you don't do it then we will come down from Schiphol and test " (seemingly -but I can believe it) , confirming the 'Police State' comment earlier in this thread . Last week a number of people failed the drugs test so it has now been withdrawn , temporarily !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The world is getting evermore petty .

Why has anybody a problem with being tested for alcohol prior to a flight? If it is done in the CREW CENTRE than they give a signal to all the rest of the crew as well. Everybody now knows that there is a chance that you have to go through a alcohol test before they let you go airside.

It is very simple you can have it in two ways.

They can test you in the CREW CENTRE. And if you haven't had a drink than you are allright. (the Dutch way)

Or they come over drag you off the airplane in front of fare paying passengers and than do a alcohol test. (the UK way)

I think the first option is the better one. At least it is not done in front of fare paying passengers and you don't have to do "the walk of shame"through the passenger cabin when the police escorts you of the plane.

It's up to you which way you prefer. And regarding the nervous passengers, it is maybe better for them if they know that crews are being tested for alcohol as well. At this moment they read a lot in the news regarding drunk flight crew so it should calm them down if they know that their crew passed the alcohol test.

Regards, FT

Does Holland perform cannabis testing on flight crew also? The state is one of the world's most permiisive countries towrds purchase, use, and, I guess, abuse of this addictive substance.

And cannabis is proven to be detrimental to performance of precision tasks.

My question has no edge or subtle agenda, I am simply curious.

PS Apologies for typos, end of a long series of flying duties.

No they don't.

Infact, they encourage you to smoke it before each flight.

V1