Drunk Pilot Pulled From Plane By Dutch Police

September 18th, 2010 - 9:23 pm ICT by Pen Men At Work  

pilot-drunk September 18, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Recently, an American Airlines Flight to Cancun, Mexico, was delayed because the pilot was inebriated. The drunken pilot was pulled from the plane by the Dutch Police, who noticed his behavior to be erratic.

The flight 1211 from Dallas-Fort Worth was travelling with 161 passengers and six crew members, but the take-off was delayed because of the drunken pilot. The 52 year old pilot from Woodbury, New Jersey, acted irresponsibly by allowing himself to get drunk before flying the heavy Boeing 757. When he went through an alcohol detection test, his blood alcohol content was 0.023, which is just a hairline above the legal limit in the Netherlands.

Flying a plane in an intoxicated state is not only illegal, but also a very bad idea in general as brain functions are seriously compromised at high altitudes. After he failed the blood-alcohol test, the pilot was fined Euro 700 and let off. It seems that a major accident was avoided thanks to the prompt action of the Dutch police, who acted on their intuition.

Speaking about the event, American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said that safety is the first and foremost priority of the company. Sanderson also said that if a certain member of the crew was found inebriated, that individual would be replaced immediately so that the flight can run on schedule.

It is against the law for an airline pilot to fly within 8 hours of consuming alcohol. The Federal Aviation Administration has been alerted about the incident and they are waiting for the report of American Airline’s internal investigation.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in World News |

Subscribe