Mon, Nov 17, 2003
Right Now, There Are No Laws, Only Voluntary Standards
Three members of a
British Airways crew were recently dragged off a plane after two of
them -- the pilot and copilot -- failed a cockpit breath-alcohol
test. The purser on Flight BA-761, bound to London from Oslo,
was also detained after he was supposedly spotted in a club with
the pilots for hours before their scheduled take-off.
The Daily Sun newspaper reports many of the passengers bound for
London on board were "worried about the state of the crew." Those
concerns were reportedly made worse when First Officer David Ryan
showed up late for the flight. A member of the ground crew
reportedly entered the cockpit after the pilot had settled in and
said the compartment "reeked of drink."
The flight was cancelled. Fifty-five passengers had to find
another way to London. The crew was arrested by Norwegian police
and thrown in the calaboose.
But the three crew members were released from the Norwegian jail
on the very same night. They returned deadhead to Britain. But they
won't be charged with any crimes. There are apparently no British
laws under which they might be prosecuted. Instead, they face
dismissal from BA for "gross misconduct." BA rules permit
"moderate" drinking in the 24 hours before a flight, with no
drinking eight hours before a scheduled flight.
But the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) only offers
guidelines on alcohol consumption by flight crews: They "must not
be under the influence of drink or drugs to such an extent to
impair their capacity."
A CAA spokesman tells the London Daily Telegraph, "Annually, on
average, we have 12 to 15 British pilots referred to us on
alcohol-related issues. We have no evidence of a growing
problem."
Hmmm. European pilots don't face the random, mandatory breath
tests that US pilots face. Last year, 22 American flight crew
members were found in violation of the bottle-to-throttle rule. The
year before, nine pilots were found in violation. There are about
75,000 pilots in the American fleet, considerably more than in the
British stable of flight crews. Considering the number of British
pilots who were able to fly undetected while tipsy, the Telegraph
suggests the percentage of British pilots flying under the
influence is considerably larger than it is across the pond.
Now, the British government plans legislation that would define
the permissible blood-alcohol content of flight crew members and
subject them to random testing. There's no indication when that
legislation will be introduced in Parliament. So far, there's been
no reaction from any of the British pilot unions. But one industry
source tells the Telegraph, "The pilot community knows that there
is a problem."
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