(Hic!) The first officer made me do it!

[Fielder 3,662]

He gave me of the bottle and I did drink! 😕

https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2019/08/03/two-united-pilots-too-drunk-to-fly-again-passengers-entitled-to-over-650-each/

 

[Captain Kevin 586]

What's crazy is that this happened on the same flight almost three years ago, and some of the text in this article is exactly the same word for word as the text in the article from three years ago from the same site.

[busdriver 258]

In no way am I excusing this crew, and if they were in fact drunk, they need to be fired, and stripped of their licenses. However, my airline has warned us unofficially that in the UK, they are a bit over zealous about targeting flight crew, to the point we have been advised to watch what mouthwash we use, as it can provide a false positive. No clue how accurate this is, as I won't be flying international until I start on the 330 next month, but will take it under advisement. Then again, on a 3 day trip, like many of them will be, I would avoid drinking altogether, as I'm already on the backside of the clock on the way out, and no need to drag my body down further.

[jon b 2,046]

13 hours ago, busdriver said:

 Then again, on a 3 day trip, like many of them will be, I would avoid drinking altogether, as I'm already on the backside of the clock on the way out, and no need to drag my body down further.

That my friend,is the secret to a long and happy career in long haul.

[JB3DG 225]

I would say its the secret to a long and happy life period. Booze may help numb pain, but having a clear head always turns out better in the long run for making decisions that will help heal rather than ruin further.

[Patco Lch 1,465]

An excellent book on the subject is called  Final Approach. I forget the author as I gave it to my Brother and I guess he still has it. It's a true story about a North West crew busted for alcohol violation and his amazing come back after a prison sentence and rehab. Very insightful. The author actually got his job with NW back, which was almost miraculously unlikely.  

[ahsmatt7 1,199]

HIMS...

[JB3DG 225]

13 hours ago, PATCO LCH said:

An excellent book on the subject is called  Final Approach. I forget the author as I gave it to my Brother and I guess he still has it. It's a true story about a North West crew busted for alcohol violation and his amazing come back after a prison sentence and rehab. Very insightful. The author actually got his job with NW back, which was almost miraculously unlikely.  

Piqued my interest so I searched for it on Amazon Kindle and found it. Awesome book. I highly recommend.

[fluffyflops 1,856]

we used to have a French Crew Member (purser) at easyJet based in Paris who would call in sick at 10pm for earlies the next day.  He would sound a bit drunk, but you could make out "im sick for tomorrow", we would then replace him with a standby crew member.

Then he would call back again 2 hours later at midnight even more drunk and we would tell him "no problem, but you already called us 2 hours ago to go sick." 

Then at 2am same again , this time completely wasted, you wouldnt even be able to make out what he was saying.  We would just put the phone down on him.

 Then at 6am he would turn up for his flight and the captain would call us asking which purser to take as there was now 2.  We would reply "the sober one please" 

Due to french law he couldnt be sacked, we had to go through this sillyness for weeks on end before they put him in rehab and then on a check in desk , so he wasnt safety cricital.

 

As ive said a million times before, come do a night shift with me on any saturday night in August, or any Tuesday night (airport booze up night in crawley is a tuesday night) and youll take at least 10 calls from drunk crew with music banging away in the background claiming they are fatigued or sick as the "neighbours are having a party"   Sure...

I could write a book (and ive often thought about doing it)  about stuff that you deal with in OCC.  We had a flight attendent the other month in Joburg get so wasted she fell asleep in the lift in the hotel after a night out.  A  BA first officer half an hour later found her asleep on the floor of the lift so he gave her a shake to wake her up, when we came around she lamped him one on the nose for his help.  she gave him a black eye so BA had to send down another F/O and they put a 16 hour delay on their flight and we ended up taking aload of their passengers.  needless to say the girl was sacked.

Ive litteray got 100s of stories i could give you about crew being idiots.  100s 

Edited August 8, 2019 by fluffyflops

[jon b 2,046]

9 minutes ago, fluffyflops said:

 

Ive litteray got 100s of stories i could give you about crew being idiots.  100s 

 

Keep em coming ! 

[fluffyflops 1,856]

On 8/9/2019 at 1:03 AM, jon b said:

 

Keep em coming ! 

Go on then I'll play...

1.Name a virgin atlantic destination I'll give you a story based on that destination. 

2. Give an easyjet base location I'll give you a story about that base. 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by fluffyflops

[JB3DG 225]

1: Ben Gurion airport

2: How about the head office? Luton.

[pedwards 20]

On 8/6/2019 at 3:24 AM, busdriver said:

In no way am I excusing this crew, and if they were in fact drunk, they need to be fired, and stripped of their licenses. However, my airline has warned us unofficially that in the UK, they are a bit over zealous about targeting flight crew, to the point we have been advised to watch what mouthwash we use, as it can provide a false positive. No clue how accurate this is, as I won't be flying international until I start on the 330 next month, but will take it under advisement. Then again, on a 3 day trip, like many of them will be, I would avoid drinking altogether, as I'm already on the backside of the clock on the way out, and no need to drag my body down further.

If suspected of a drink driving offence in the UK the police should ask if you have used any mouthwash products in the last 20 minutes as this may affect the breathalyzer, however unless you're drinking the stuff, the chances of mouthwash changing the result from negative to positive is true only for a few minutes. Flight/cabin crew should have no concern as long as they are not under the influence of alchol/drugs.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by pedwards

[jon b 2,046]

A breathalyser test is just the preliminary test, if that’s failed then a blood test is required.