Re: German police pull drunk Delta pilot off Atlanta-bound flight

[Capt.Doug]

>"n-e-w-s" wrote in message > German police stop Delta pilot on alcohol
>suspicion

I've taken the liberty of removing the cross-postings.

For those in the educated group which remains, I'd like to point out that
for the airline I'm employed at, since the start of 2004 until the present,
3.7% of our pilot group has been accused of reporting to work while
intoxicated. ALL of the accused have tested negative for alcohol use.

Most of the time, a screener who has no training in recognizing substance
abuse makes an accusation. The allegation must be acted upon. Then the news
teams show up. The accused must take 3 breathalyzers in a 30 minute period.
During the 30 minutes, the news team usually figures out that they don't
have a story and they leave. The screener is not reprimanded so that s/he
isn't intimidated from reporting someone in the future who may actually be
drunk. Neither does the screener receive substance abuse recognition
training which might prevent a false accusation in the future.

It's one of a myriad of headaches that airline professionals endure.

D.

[Frank]

Ben wrote:

> "n-e-w-s" > wrote in message
> news:o2hf21d2vf7js3c8ope9ogi4naq0pln3d5@news...
>> German police stop Delta pilot on alcohol suspicion
>> Thu Mar 3, 2005
>>
>> FRANKFURT, March 3 (Reuters) - German police detained a Delta Air
>> Lines pilot suspected of being drunk at Frankfurt airport just before
>> he was due to make a flight to Atlanta, a spokeswoman for the airline
>> said on Thursday.

<snip>

>
> What's wrong with having a few drinks before the flight?!
>

<snip>

You don't really think anyone would go up in one of those infernal "flying
machines" sober do you?


--
Frank....H

[m pautz]

n-e-w-s wrote:

> German police stop Delta pilot on alcohol suspicion
> Thu Mar 3, 2005
>
> FRANKFURT, March 3 (Reuters) - German police detained a Delta Air
> Lines pilot suspected of being drunk at Frankfurt airport just before
> he was due to make a flight to Atlanta, a spokeswoman for the airline
> said on Thursday.
>
> The first officer, one of two co-pilots on the Monday flight, was
> taken to a Frankfurt police station and given a blood-alcohol test. A
> Frankfurt police spokesman confirmed the pilot was detained and said
> the test results were not yet known.
>
> "One of the first officers of Delta flight 27 was detained by local
> law enforcement representatives in Germany because of alleged alcohol
> use," a spokeswoman for Delta in Munich said.
>
> "Delta has removed the pilot from active service pending further
> investigation of this matter." She declined to provide any details
> about the pilot's name, age or nationality.
>
> She said the Feb. 28 flight, which was carrying 156 passengers to the
> southern U.S. city, was delayed slightly. The plane departed with a
> captain and just one first officer rather than two, she said.
>
> Police said the pilot was being investigated for possible charges of
> dangerous interference in air transport.


When I die, I want to die peaceably in my sleep, like my grandfather;
Not screaming in terror like his passengers.

[ThomasH]

"Capt.Doug" wrote:
>
> >"n-e-w-s" wrote in message > German police stop Delta pilot on alcohol
> >suspicion
>
> I've taken the liberty of removing the cross-postings.
>
> For those in the educated group which remains, I'd like to point out that
> for the airline I'm employed at, since the start of 2004 until the present,
> 3.7% of our pilot group has been accused of reporting to work while
> intoxicated. ALL of the accused have tested negative for alcohol use.
>
> Most of the time, a screener who has no training in recognizing substance
> abuse makes an accusation. The allegation must be acted upon. Then the news
> teams show up. The accused must take 3 breathalyzers in a 30 minute period.
> During the 30 minutes, the news team usually figures out that they don't
> have a story and they leave. The screener is not reprimanded so that s/he
> isn't intimidated from reporting someone in the future who may actually be
> drunk. Neither does the screener receive substance abuse recognition
> training which might prevent a false accusation in the future.
>
> It's one of a myriad of headaches that airline professionals endure.
>
> D.

Well, as you can see the majority prefers to participate in the rant.
Such pesky "boring real details" seem not to be of interest :-)

Thomas