Delta pilot caught boozing the preflight

From the article
On Tuesday the court heard the father-of-two also has two previous convictions for driving while under the influence of alcohol in the US.
Defence lawyer Pamela Rodgers said her client was a recovering alcoholic who had not drunk alcohol for 277 days and had completed the 12 Steps to Recovery rehab programme.
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Guess that HIMS program ain’t working out for him. At 63, what a stupid way to finish.
 
jonathan-goldsmith-retiring-ftr.jpg


I don’t always drink and fly.
But when I do, I choose Boeing.
 
Perhaps knowing the flight from Edinburgh to JFK was just over 8 hours, in his confusion he thought the eight hours bottle to throttle rule applied ... :nono:

Nah ... (as old Joe would say) "Come one man! Here's the deal ... "
 
What inspired them to do the breathalyzer? The article says his blood alcohol was 49mg per 100ml. In other words, that’s .049. Not exactly stumbling and slurring.
 
Yep, not a good way to go out.
Back in my day, pilots taking a bottle or two in the bag wasn’t a biggie at all. Of course no sampling any time in the 8 or 12 hour windows. Some changed after 9-11, a few places don’t care for liquids, even with crew members. I think the average USA liquor store has plenty of options, no need to bring any back.


BAC limits for pilots is often MUCH less than standard DWI/driving limits. Of one wants a mini happy hour, move it to noon or so.
Lastly, there have been instances of the hotel or driver alerting airport security for closer scrutiny. Just another thing to keep in mind.


Would the other pilots have any idea before leaving the hotel? Possibly not, that’s about the last chance to stay ahead of something like this.


Other than that I have nothing.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
What inspired them to do the breathalyzer? The article says his blood alcohol was 49mg per 100ml. In other words, that’s .049. Not exactly stumbling and slurring.
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Their country, their laws. No ‘inspiration’ needed and US legal protections don’t apply in countries that aren’t spelled America.

UK Ramp inspection programme | Civil Aviation Authority

Alcohol testing on flight crew and cabin crew members in the United Kingdom
www.caa.co.uk www.caa.co.uk

Most of Europe has .04 BAC as the limit for vehicular DUI. When we lived over there, just about every time the various police forces stopped someone while driving, it was license, insurance, and blow into the tube. Don’t want to blow? Go straight to jail and your blood gets drawn. Even if it comes back clean, you still get a conviction for failing to comply.
 
Half Fast said:
Oh, I dunno.... Has he contacted Bruce or Lou yet?
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Well. Let’s see. He was 63 when arrested last year. Now he gets a nice prison stay.

Probably to old for 121.

Even if he does somehow miraculously get his medical back who would hire the guy?

Nah. I think this was his exit from professional aviation and very likely all flying.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Well. Let’s see. He was 63 when arrested last year. Now he gets a nice prison stay.

Probably to old for 121.

Even if he does somehow miraculously get his medical back who would hire the guy?

Nah. I think this was his exit from professional aviation and very likely all flying.
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Prison? For what? Is he being charged with a felony?
 
Welcome to OCL “other countries law”

Or as someone above wittily put it, countries not spelled “America”

The court heard Russell had not less than 49mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

This exceeded the strict legal limit which is 20mg of alcohol.

Sheriff Alison Stirling said a prison sentence had to be imposed as a punishment and for the "protection of the public".
 
Right, right, right. But they aren’t testing everyone, so why him? He’s presumably tolerant, so I doubt he had any outward signs.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
Right, right, right. But they aren’t testing everyone, so why him? He’s presumably tolerant, so I doubt he had any outward signs.
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The article says why. Because there were half empty bottles of Jagermeister in his carry-on.
 
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OneCharlieTango said:
Right, right, right. But they aren’t testing everyone, so why him? He’s presumably tolerant, so I doubt he had any outward signs.
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The link I provided you earlier is the ‘why’. If you didn’t read the link, here’s the opening statement. Note there’s no ‘probably cause’ required for the UK to test someone.
From the 1st February 2022, the United Kingdom initiated alcohol testing on flight crew and cabin crew members in accordance Article 4 of UK Regulation (EU) No.965/2012 (the Air Operations Regulation) as retained (and amended in UK domestic law) under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
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Simply reporting for duty allows their CAA to test every member of the crew.
Who we test
Only flight crew and cabin crew members with an assigned operational duty may be subject to an alcohol test.
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Yes, they used the open bottle as a reason to investigate further. You can use about any reason to compel some sort of evaluation, even here in the states, and that evaluation (someone trained to observe and sniff) can compel a breathalyzer.

Delta has no pension. If he has a legacy pension, it won’t be touched.

He would have no problem getting recertified, except that it may simply take too long at 63 and some jail.

This whole situation makes sense… unlike the US that does this AFTER the flight. There may be a few exceptions, but not a whole lot.

So, considering the vast majority of those caught in the US are after they flew, and there are no incidents attributed to alcohol, we can assume they all flew successfully. Is the public REALLY in that much danger? If so, shouldn’t we test EVERYONE before flying a pax airliner? It isn’t that hard.

Meanwhile rest is still routinely violated and that HAS put pax airliners in the dirt. Pilots can’t effectively seek help for depression which has killed lots of people…

But here we are in a panic over a guy who blew a .0something. What ev…. Pull his license, jail him if you think it’ll help, move on.
 
Tools said:
So, considering the vast majority of those caught in the US are after they flew, and there are no incidents attributed to alcohol, we can assume they all flew successfully. Is the public REALLY in that much danger? If so, shouldn’t we test EVERYONE before flying a pax airliner? It isn’t that hard.
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Nothing would give my nervous flyer friends more confidence than boarding the plane and seeing the pilots blowing into ignition interlocks in the cockpit.
 
EXACTLY my point. It’s irrational.

1. I don’t want a drunk pilot at ANY cost.
2. For God’s sake, don’t make sure.
 
Just a cursory glance at this story raises questions for me. I'm all for forgiveness and second chances, but this guy has had two prior convictions for DUI. That puts this as his third chance and if he gets back into a plane it will be his fourth. Next, on his third chance, he couldn't maintain sobriety for a year (277 days per the article). That worries me. It worries me a lot.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
Next, on his third chance, he couldn't maintain sobriety for a year (277 days per the article). That worries me. It worries me a lot.
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I think it was that his lawyer said that 277 days since the incident, to mean that he hasn't had a drink since. Two DUIs and a professional violation is enough for me, but it does seem like he's sober now.
 
Daleandee said:
Waiting for the anonymous posting in medical topics; "277 days sober, can I get a class one?" :confused:
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"How many hoops does a guy need to jump through! I was only a .4! That's legal in the US! I just didn't know that other countries were more strict!"
 
OneCharlieTango said:
What inspired them to do the breathalyzer? The article says his blood alcohol was 49mg per 100ml. In other words, that’s .049. Not exactly stumbling and slurring.
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He had a history, and was likely watched more closely (hopefully!); and whilst that reading is just over the limit, bear in mind that if you assume that he waited the eight hours and still blew that, he was likely "faced" as we used to say.
 
172andyou said:
I think it was that his lawyer said that 277 days since the incident, to mean that he hasn't had a drink since.
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He’s been in jail for 10 months, so what does 277 days dry prove? That he isn’t smart enough to smuggle booze into jail?
 
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