Pilot durnked

[Verbal]

Police: Pilot removed from cockpit before takeoff was drunk
Associated Press 03/03/2022

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (AP) — A pilot who appeared to be drunk was removed from the cockpit of a JetBlue flight as it was about to take off from Buffalo, police said.

Tests confirmed the pilot had a blood alcohol level of 0.17, transit police said. Federal rules set a 0.04 limit for flying.

The flight was temporarily delayed Wednesday morning. Passengers on their way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said they watched from the plane as the pilot — one of two scheduled for the flight — was placed in a patrol car.

“Whatever the procedures are before you fly, they should have caught him before he was on the plane but they didn’t. He was on the plane in the cockpit,” Desiree Breckenridge Barnes-Jean told WGRZ-TV. “The upsetting thing is all of our lives would have been jeopardized.”

The pilot was identified as James Clifton, 52, of Orlando, Florida. He could not be reached by phone for comment Thursday.

The police report indicates that prior to boarding, Clifton seemed “off” to Transportation Security Administration agents, prompting Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police to pull him from the cockpit and perform a breath test for alcohol.

Clifton's co-pilot said the two had gone out for dinner the night before, and that Clifton stayed behind at the restaurant when he left. He missed the airport shuttle the next morning and arrived late to the airport in an Uber, the report said.

JetBlue Airways Corp., in a statement, said "the crewmember involved has been removed from his duties.”

“The safety of JetBlue’s customers and crewmembers is our first priority. We adhere to all (Department of Transportation) rules and requirements concerning alcohol at all times and have a very strict zero tolerance internal alcohol policy,” according to the statement, which said an internal investigation was planned.

Clifton was not immediately charged, the police report said. The U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for an update Thursday.

[Not_Karl]

Any word on his state of clothing?

[Gabriel]

Flyboy, I wonder if this was also "an airline captain charged with doing judgement calls".

[3WE]

Interviewer: So, your very experienced captain enters the cockpit and his breath smells of alcohol, tell me what you, as a brand new FO are thinking and what you will do?

Pilot candidate: That is a very serious question…

[Not_Karl]

Interviewer: So, your very experienced captain enters the cockpit and his breath smells of alcohol, tell me what you, as a brand new FO are thinking and what you will do?

Pilot candidate: I don't know, I'm too did durnked to think…

Fixed.

[flyboy2548m]

Police: Pilot removed from cockpit before takeoff was drunk
Associated Press 03/03/2022

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (AP) — A pilot who appeared to be drunk was removed from the cockpit of a JetBlue flight as it was about to take off from Buffalo, police said.

Tests confirmed the pilot had a blood alcohol level of 0.17, transit police said. Federal rules set a 0.04 limit for flying.

The flight was temporarily delayed Wednesday morning. Passengers on their way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said they watched from the plane as the pilot — one of two scheduled for the flight — was placed in a patrol car.

“Whatever the procedures are before you fly, they should have caught him before he was on the plane but they didn’t. He was on the plane in the cockpit,” Desiree Breckenridge Barnes-Jean told WGRZ-TV. “The upsetting thing is all of our lives would have been jeopardized.”

The pilot was identified as James Clifton, 52, of Orlando, Florida. He could not be reached by phone for comment Thursday.

The police report indicates that prior to boarding, Clifton seemed “off” to Transportation Security Administration agents, prompting Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police to pull him from the cockpit and perform a breath test for alcohol.

Clifton's co-pilot said the two had gone out for dinner the night before, and that Clifton stayed behind at the restaurant when he left. He missed the airport shuttle the next morning and arrived late to the airport in an Uber, the report said.

JetBlue Airways Corp., in a statement, said "the crewmember involved has been removed from his duties.”

“The safety of JetBlue’s customers and crewmembers is our first priority. We adhere to all (Department of Transportation) rules and requirements concerning alcohol at all times and have a very strict zero tolerance internal alcohol policy,” according to the statement, which said an internal investigation was planned.

Clifton was not immediately charged, the police report said. The U.S. attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for an update Thursday.

Desiree Breckenridge Barnes-Jean...

You can't make this stuff up!

[flyboy2548m]

Flyboy, I wonder if this was also "an airline captain charged with doing judgement calls".

I wonder if you forgot yourself again.

[Gabriel]

Flyboy, I wonder if this was also "an airline captain charged with doing judgement calls".

I wonder if you forgot yourself again.

I haven't. I am not an airplane captain charged with making these judgement calls, but I can write about those judgement calls all I want in an internet forum. Judgement calls like, I don't know, consuming significant quantities of alcohol not sufficiently before a flight and then showing up to operate said flight knowing that you most likely are not in legal and safe condition to do so.

[Verbal]

...consuming significant quantities of alcohol not sufficiently before a flight and then showing up to operate said flight knowing that you most likely are not in legal and safe condition to do so.

Wait, I thought this was standard operating procedure in the commercial pilot community.

[Gabriel]

...consuming significant quantities of alcohol not sufficiently before a flight and then showing up to operate said flight knowing that you most likely are not in legal and safe condition to do so.

Wait, I thought this was standard operating procedure in the commercial pilot community.

Only in Snappyland.

[monchavo]

Serious question: what happens next?

[flyboy2548m]

Serious question: what happens next?

Summary execution.

[monchavo]

Serious question: what happens next?

Summary execution.

I am not familiar with the statutes / rules which apply here. What is likely to happen in this case?

[J]

I am not familiar with the statutes / rules which apply here. What is likely to happen in this case?
[/quote]

Here is an article about a NW pilot who received more than 400 days in prison:
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/09/ ... ing-drunk/

[Gabriel]

400 days sounds about fair for an act where was no intention to do harm but there was intention to commit the act itself knowing that it was reckless and may end up causing harm.

How do these shortish sentences work in the USA?

In Argentina in any sentence up to 3 years they always get parole guaranteed by law unless the criminal act was committed while under parole for a previous crime, in which case they may still get parole anyway (for example if what remained of the previous sentence plus the new sentence doesn't add up to 3 years.

[monchavo]

interesting, thanks

[flyboy2548m]

In Argentina in any sentence up to 3 years they always get parole guaranteed by law unless the criminal act was committed while under parole for a previous crime, in which case they may still get parole anyway (for example if what remained of the previous sentence plus the new sentence doesn't add up to 3 years.

Nobody cares.

[Gabriel]

Nobody cares.

And you are nobody or nobody's speaker?

[Verbal]

United Airlines pilot has license suspended after turning up drunk to work
by Tara Suter - 07/27/23 3:39 PM ET

A court in France sentenced a United Airlines pilot to a six-month suspended prison term and one-year suspended license for showing up to work intoxicated Tuesday, local media outlets reported.

The pilot, reportedly a 63-year-old American referred to only as “Henry W.” in French media, showed up to work at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit for pilots in Europe. According to an emailed statement by United sent to The Hill, the flight was headed to Washington Dulles International Airport, despite other reports it was going to Dallas.

“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority,” the United statement said. “We hold all our employees to the highest standards and have a strict no-tolerance policy for alcohol. This employee was immediately removed from service and we are fully cooperating with local authorities.”

According to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by the National Gendarmerie, a French national law enforcement organization, the pilot’s license is suspended for a year. The incident reportedly occurred at 3 p.m. Sunday.

https://thehill.com/policy/transportati ... k-to-work/

[3WE]

Sad…

I ass-ume the poor SOB could have simply called in sick.