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Drunk United Airlines pilot pulled off plane minutes before departure
A United Airlines pilot was pulled from his plane yesterday on charges that he was about to fly to Chicago while drunk.After he failed a breathalyzer test, he was arrested and subsequently released on bond. United did not release the name of the pilot, but did confirm an employee was "removed from service".
The flight in question was United 949, scheduled to depart London Heathrow at 12:05pm All 124 passengers had to be moved to other flights as no replacement pilot was available. The passengers were told that the pilot was "sick".
The airline did not release any more information about the incident. The British press reported his age as 51.
Sadly, drunk pilots are not all that uncommon. When we recently compiled some of the worst incidents involving the flight crew, four of the ten involved booze in the flight deck.
Filed under: Europe, North America, Airlines, Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ljbad4life Nov 12th 2009 2:57PM
I think this is going to happen more and more as the scrutiny on the flight crew grows. i honestly think this happens way more often that pilots and airlines let on. First the flight crew has no oversight for large spans of time. Many pilots show up to the airport 30 minutes before their flights, Who is there to check the fitness for duty? It's self imposed check, but not every person has integrity.
Don't get me wrong, I do believe the majority of flight crew are good people, but if they don't want to turn each other in, who is their to stop them?