Properly boozed up so. On the plus side, prison in Norway is less unpleasant than most places.

I was a flying spanner for a well known US cargo operator around 2005 operating out of CDG, AF were doing the catering and was also a bit surprised to see a small bottle of red wine for each crew member ( x 5) their rationale was we could drink it half way over the pond, we all kept them for the hotel, have to say the food was fantastic though.

They are sentenced to 2 weeks in a Norwegian Jail and probably won't suffer as the jails over there are known as 5-star facilities.
The Captain stated a stupid mistake ruined his famillies future :((
True enough, could have happened to quite a few of us 20 or 30 years ago.

not sentenced yet, a court decided to keep them in custody for 2 weeks as they're deemed a flight risk (no pun intended). The former BA F/O caught with 1.5 ‰ in 2003 in Oslo was sentenced to half a year.

According to Swedish press (google translated/helmsman = FO )


" Capt Breath sample showed a blood alcohol level of 0.68 percent.
Of the other three crew members who were caught blew the 38-year-old helmsman 1.44 per thousand and two cabin attendants 1.04 and 1.84 per thousand.
Later taken blood samples show that two crew members had been 0.4 per thousand, one of the flight attendants 0.8 and copilot 1.2. Prosecutor Camilla Ek Sørensen stresses news agency NTB that a safety margin is then added, which means that the values ​​may in fact be higher.
Suspended from their jobs
The crew worked for the Latvian airline Air Baltic, which would transport over a hundred charter travelers to Crete. They are Latvian citizens. They are suspended from their jobs and Air Baltic is preparing layoffs because of the harm they caused the company.
Oak Sørensen points out that Norwegian rules pilots and cabin crew when they are in Norway, regardless of the rules in their home country. Under Norwegian rules, flight crews not drink alcohol eight hours before going to work and the alcohol limit is 0.2.
- It exposes a large number of people to considerable danger when four of the five crew on a flight are more or less under the influence of alcohol, she says."

True enough, if something goes horribly wrong and if the crew needs to be sharp to save life's, it is best to be under no influence at all.
On a routine flight, with nothing going haywire, no problem. :=

With that in mind, many more airline crews are flying under the influence of Fatique, as in being dead tired from lack of sleep and on the wrong time-zone and can hardly talk on the radio or read a check list without slurring or repeating
the same thing over and over again to make it sink in.
Perfectly legal and they are flying with the blessings of the airlines, the authorities, the passengers and the cheap tickets.
To fix fatique it would take more crews to share the load and that would make more expensive tickets and not acceptable by the authorities, the airlines or the pax.
Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the truth, been there , done that.:sad:
I am also the King of calling in fatiqued in my airline so as to force crew scheduling to cover the flights with (fresh) reserve crews.
I have flown for a living for 37 years of which the last 27 on long haul across every continent and every ocean.
As bad as the above Baltic Air situation is, there is far worse out there every day, but your cheapo tickets says it is OK..:yuk:

The number of commercial airline accidents that can be attributed to alcohol are thankfully very few-statistically insignificant-but anyone who shows up for duty with an appreciable amount of alcohol in their system deserve all they get.

On the other hand, according to the NTSB, of all the airline accidents attributed to pilot error, about 20 to 30 percent have fatigue as a factor.

A flight crew`s performance during a 05.00 approach, for example, is roughly equivalent to operating with a blood alcohol level of .08 parts per thousand.

Perhaps the hotel employees should be told.

If you require verification of the above you are going to have to look it up yourselves as I am too tired-there are thousands of pages so good luck.

I would have guessed the opposit..if P2F he must have cash to spare:p

So roughly 2.5 pints, 3.5 pints, and 1 pint up respectively... and that still in the morning. :bored:

Copilot 1.2 :eek:. While individual tolerance varies, that's definitely inebriated (many people would be falling down drunk). Unforgivable, IMHO.

A further court appearance today. The crew has admitted the facts in the case, and the prosecutors hope that the cases will be simple cases of the crew pleading guilty, with only the sentencing handled by the courts.

If any of the cases has to go to full trial, the police will ask for remand until the first possible court date (mid september)

Nrk.no (Google translate)

First officer sentenced to six months in prison
 

summary: F/O pleaded guilty, got 6 months in jail (same as the former BA F/O in Oslo in 2003). The captain has not pleaded guilty yet, he (or his counsel) says he needs more time to consider the additional charges against him related to his command responsibility. Apparently the stunt involved 2 bottles of whisky. F/O also admitted to drinking beer after that, but only after police presented surveillance videos showing him buying beer at 1.39am. Prosecutors were well prepared. F/A's admit to drinking, but claim they were pressured into drinking...What a clusterf***. Kudos to norwegian media for not publishing names or pictures.

Air Balt-hic:

Actually I find it quite remarkable that two bottles of whisky + beer will "only" result in these alcohol readings.

they started around 16.00, the bottles were empty around 20.00. Police suspected they must have been drinking more than "just" 2 bottles, based on blood alcohol levels the morning after, but they could only get the F/O to admit to drinking more after they showed the surveillance video of him. F/A's claimed they have a "slow metabolism".

Captain agreed to be remanded in custody until trial and/or guilty plea.
Regarding the FO, bying beer less than 5 hrs before EOBT........:ugh::ugh::ugh:

I am also very surprised that 2 bottles of Whiskey give these low readings. However it is surprising how many people do not understand how little alcohol is needed to bust the limit. For example 4 pints of beer consumed let's say 10 hours before duty (means stop drinking 8 hours before) will get you busted with .03%. Of course each person is different in the in the absorption and metabolisation of alcohol. A good way to check it is to by an alcohol breathalyzer and check yourself. The results might shock you.

Totally agree Tower Dog. Far more fatigue than alcohol in flight crews:sad:

Why is anyone still turning up fatigued?!

It's as stupid as turning up drunk.

:D :D

All they had to do was call in sick. Just make a call, blame it on food poisoning, get some sleep and get on another flight back home. Now they've ruined their careers and possibly their private lives as well....

CP

On a lighter note, from an earlier era -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqE...qEMPYS9XM#t=13

Or not drink before their flight, maybe?

Taking in to consideration the disruption caused it might be considered reasonable for the operator to demand doctor's certificates or even send the company or hotel doctor to their rooms!

As usual people read in to posts whatever they want to. It's obviously not ok getting pissed before a duty like they did. However there had been a comment from crew members that it had "gone out of control" or similar and if it did, then all they had to do was call in sick.

CP

My experience in Norway regarding the police with respect to drunk flying is this:
They are quite trigger happy about this, and without proper verification they will confront a crew, in public, to do a breathalizer test. (In front of the airport building)
After all crew members were found to be completely sober at 5am, the police was asked why they had to undergo this treatment.
It turned out that "someone" in the crew hotel tipped them off. The LATE crew was seen having a drink in the bar at midnight.
So the EARLY outgoing crew was breathalized. To their disappointment they were sober of course.

Phileas is right. Colleague of mine who pre-empted his flying career with five years in "ops" tells me that in the glorious past,the number of aircrew who "phoned in sick" , particularly cabin crew, on a friday night caused frantic aggravation for whoever was manning the crewing & ops depts. Later, most companies started demanding a "sick note" . One could get away with three days sickness without a note but not any more and certainly not in the companies I served. Skipper Props advocates just phoning in sick and telling porkies. That would have caused just as much aggro for this crew and suspicion would have been aroused anyway.

"just as much aggro"?

They would still have aviation careers, even if a single incident got them fired from Air Baltic, which I doubt.

@deptrai
Quote: I'd also like to extend thanks to the media for not publishing names and pictures.

Why that? Not publishing names means that every Baltic pilot/cabin crew is now a suspect. Journalists must publish names because people have the right to know

Air Baltic crews are not suspects :) You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that those who were found guilty are in jail now. There are no other suspects.

Further, stocks and pillory were abolished some time ago. These guys have ruined their careers, they'll spend some time in jail. After their punishment, they should get a chance to become productive members of society again. They're not repeat offenders afaik. Public humiliation serves no purpose, and I'm happy to see otherwise often sensationalist media showing some restraint.

Akasylvia : what a cosy little comfy blanket world you live in . Where can I buy some ! Try telling the future employer after phoning in sick & telling porkies...."er, yeah, me, the Fo, two cabin crew were fired for calling in sick. B I G investigation & we were fired."................oh yeah, hit Pprune, papers. media, inhouse jail mags.............................future careers ? Wake up Dad !

That's the difference between a boy and a man, the man calls in sick, and take the consequence. It's still better telling a future employer that you'd made a stupid decision and got a bit too much in the evening, but you were man enough to admit it and face it.

Now they'll most likely end up not having a future job in aviation, cause the only right decision they had, they didn't take.... how's that for a pilot?

If that's the way you present yourself in an interview, no wonder you are worried about job security.

I'll try to be clearer:

Pulling a sicky, especially just the once because you messed up, does not get people banned from aviation careers and put into jail.

Flying a plane drunk, on the other hand...

Towerdog -

Looks like the crew is going to jail...

The police was alerted by a hotel employee at 04:00.
Don't drink and fly in Norway, they don't like it and get grumpy
____________________________________________________________ ____
Your comment appears to show support for this wayward bunch - seems like you approve of drinking prior to flying in any country where you may get away with it. I hope I've misread you :=

and don't drink and drive in Norway - IIRC just about any amount of beer puts you over the limit

they also are keen on road blocks for commuters in the morning

Your licence is removed immediately until you appear in court

Penalties vary depending on the blood alcohol level.

They range from a fine for being just over the limit (above 0.2% andup to 0.4%).

A driver detected with 0.8% BAC (currently still legal in the UK) can expect to pay a fine of at least 10,000kroner (1,250 euros), lose his/her licence for 18 to 20 months and may be sent to prison for up to three weeks.

I had to laugh. The banner add for this topic is from airBaltic Training regarding 737 Ratings.
Their catch phrase: "Do it with an Airline."

Which could possibly mean they might one day fly in a drunken state with dreadful consequences.

one rotten apple, or a liquor chocolate would put anyone over that lousy limit. :suspect:

On a breathalyzer right after consumption maybe.

But one will not register 1.4 on a blood test by eating a few liquor chocolates! That's approximately 5 pints of beer assuming a 200 lbs. male.

Johnny

one advantage of the Norwegain rules are that you don't even think of having ANY alcohol if you think you are driving/flying the next day - it's a bit extreme (like stealing in Saudi) but it is clear

Of course out in the sticks there are always people who drink and drive but there is no way round it if you're stopped...........................

Yeah, crystal clear rules, I know: Born and raised there before I relocated to the Colonies.
Incidentally Norway also have the lowest traffic fatalities of any country, (according to Google anyways) 2,9 fatalities per 100,000, one of the highest is The Dominican Republic with over 40. The U.S. Is around 11, Sweden 3, etc.
As for flying under the influence, few if any accidents due to Alchohol in commercial aviation anywhere in the world. Not a big, or a dangerous problem.
Fatique however is the white elpahant in the room.
Sometimes we are so exhausted and tired after long flights and much longer duty days that we can hardly spell our names and keep slurring on the radio.
Granted, that was usually working for cargo carriers working under some supplemental rules of the FARs. (Federal Aviation Regulation)
Last time I did that was in 2007. 30 hour Duty Days with no rest
Perfectly legal by the graveyard agency called the FAA.
Limited to 12 hours flight time with 3 cockpit crews, but if the last leg was an empty ferry, no limits, keep on flying boys until you pass out.
For those scenarios it was up to the pilots to say stop, and we did many times, yet it was perfectly legal to continue another 10 hours or whatever you were scheduled for.
A call from the boss could be expected though, money before safety...:sad: