A classic...

[awacs94]

Looks like this one is now history. Doug do you have a crystal ball?

Continental Airlines Pilot Removed From Flight

http://www.click2houston.com/news/9571240/detail.html

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Easiest solution: use your FFDO priviledges. Three shots. Center mass. Problem solved.

[mikecweb]

Holy Thread Resurrection.

[Cruise]

Necroposting classics!

[bluelake]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

For whoever's legal department reads this, this is a HYPOTHETICAL situation.

On the crew van to the airport, you notice that one of your crew members smells of alcohol... The crewmember was also five minutes late for pick up at the hotel and seems a little disoriented.

Keep in mind that this crewmember, in this situation, is going to do his or her best to deny intoxication and most likely resist any cursory efforts to investigate.

Walk us through the process of what you'd do as the captain (or as the FO for that matter).

pretty much every post on this resurrected thread implies that the crewmember scenario is a FLIGHT crewmember. There are other crewmembers on most airline flights and they can also be a problem....

[barnstormer09]

Originally Posted by Mr_Creepy

Confrontation. "I'm sorry sir, but you are NOT going any further until you are completely sober and don't smell AT ALL."

If I said that to every male pilot I knew, I would be waiting around forever.

[sdfcvoh]

Ask if there's any left for the ride to the airport?

[Denny]

You'd be surprised how often this type of thing happens. I think most of the responses are pretty much on the mark. However, the one thing I would hold until needed as a last resort is to bring someone in that is up the chain of command.

Talk to the guy and get him to see the wisdom of just calling in sick or whatever. But once you make that first call to someone else then both the company and the pilot are on the hook for alchohol abuse treatment. The guy will be off the line and in a dry out facility for 3 months or so and then on the hook for monitoring for another couple of years. One misstep in that program and poof he's gone.

Keep the chief pilot and anyone else out of it for as long as possible. Now if the guy really is a boozer with a problem then you might want to make that call to scheduling or the chief pilot first.

[Minuteman]

In the longer run, one of the main jobs of the union is to maintain professional standards...

So, what assistance/remediation do they have to assist a member who no longer meets those standards? What obligation does the union have to notify the company about this person?

[falconvalley]

I would take the crewmember aside and tell them that I smell alcohol on them and that I don't care why they smell like alcohol, but that is unacceptable for reporting for duty. They could have stopped drinking more than 10 hours ago and have a BAC under .04 or they could have fallen in a swimming pool filled with Whiskey for all I care. They still smell like alcohol and if they want to disregard that, I feel that is unprofessional.

[dispatchguy]

As a dispatcher, if an F/O calls me and said that his PIC was suspect, I would call my chief pilot, and do anything to insure that that airplane doesnt go anywhere until the C/P says its all ok.

One thing I can do is to call the departure airport tower and have them cancel their strip out of the computer, so if they call for clearance - no strip on file; it only takes about 2 mins to refile if it comes time to do so when the C/P is done talking to the crew.

If I cant get a hold of the C/P, then whoever the duty C/P is - however, that airplane isnt going anywhere until its sorted out, and people above my pay grade have been involved; this is something NOT to keep secret.

Could be he took a bigger swig of Listerine in the morning than usual; or not.

[dc3flyer]

I would ask him how long he stayed at the bar after I left, knowing it couldn't have been long since it closed at 4:00 am and we had a 6:00 show!!!!!!

Seriously,
I would just try to have a conversation with him. I know it may be different in the 121 world, but in my 135 world I fly with the same people all the time. I would feel very comfortable just confronting them as a friend first and a co-worker second.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by dc3flyer

I would ask him how long he stayed at the bar after I left, knowing it couldn't have been long since it closed at 4:00 am and we had a 6:00 show!!!!!!

Seriously,
I would just try to have a conversation with him. I know it may be different in the 121 world, but in my 135 world I fly with the same people all the time. I would feel very comfortable just confronting them as a friend first and a co-worker second.

bump,

definately, I'd try to get the guy to go back to the hotel and call in sick
btw this thread is unkillable

[newty]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Here's the kicker, if you suspect a person is under the influence and you knowingly let him onto the aircraft, you're probably going to get fired too, at best, offered a chance to 'resign'.



But you've got to be 110% convinced of the situation.

So this may sound naive, but I haven't spent alot of time around heavy drinkers, what if I am totally off the mark, He's not drunk maybe just a little bit of a wierd personality. What I'm getting at is what happens if I follow all of the advice given here just to have the guy pass a breathalizer? Is the company gonna come down on me? AM I going to get put on everyones do not fly list?

[Bigey]

First of all...everyone slow your roll...

First thing first...ask what type of alcohol he drank
Next, find out where you can attain some of the same alcohol
Then, find a place where you and Capt. Alchy can duke it out for the next 8 hours and pound away
Repeat as necessary

But in all seriousness...just beat him up...with the injuries he sustains he'd be forced to go to the hospital vs. going to the airport.

Okay okay okay..enough kidding....

But how can anyone try and fly a plane drunk? I was on painkillers one time and thought i'd be smart and ride a motorized scooter! At speeds of 20 mph i had to explain to my doc again why i'm in there. The guy would probably be tripping balls if he tried to fly a plane drunk....

Geez guys...leave all the drunk flying to the sims alright (hrmm...i've heard of this one time with some retiring [age 60] pilots)

[SoCalAprch]

As was said earlier one of the easiest things in life is to cross the line of just a couple beers to one too many beers. It isnt something we as pilots should do but the reality is, if we cross that line you should just know to call in sick. It happens to all types of pilots the good ones just know when not to show up and the stupid ones are the ones you read about in the newspapers. Hell thats what reserve guys are for right??? Use em...

As for your captain smelling, I would take the approach of asking him if he feels ok, tell him he doesnt look to hot and that he should call in sick, I wouldnt bring up alcohol at first, that gives him the opprotunity to start denying. If that doesnt work tell him "to be honest captain you stink like a brewery and that its not worth your job, call in sick or Im gonna call in for you." If I have to call in sick for him Im just gonna say he doesnt look good and that he looks like he hasn't slept in days and that he is in no shape to fly. If they have questions then I will tell them to talk to him. If this still doesnt work I would suddenly come down with the squirts from the fish I had last night at the all night buffet and call in sick myself, there is no way you are getting me near a plane with anyone that smells of alcohol.

[WalterSobchak]

Tell the pilot to call in sick. Inform him that if I make a call it will not be to crew scheduling. He can choose his own fate as long as he doesn't get near the aircraft.

[PilotBeckfizzle]

Call in sick for him.