We’ve occasionally written about a captain being pulled from his plane for being over the legal drinking limit, but arresting the entire crew for being drunk? Pretty sure that is a first.
The airline in question is Ukraine based carrier Donbassaero. When local police acted on a tip, they boarded the Yak-42 plane and measured alcohol levels between 0.075 and 0.052 in every member of the crew – flight attendants, pilot and flight engineer. The legal limit in the Ukraine is 0.02.
The airline issued the following statement:
“The exact causes behind the long delay in the departure of the plane are being investigated, after which Donbassaero’s management will take adequate measures”.
The flight was scheduled to fly from Simferopol to Kiev with 86 passengers and was just several minutes away from its departure time. The passengers ended up leaving for Kiev almost 12 hours late. The incident caught the attention of the federal government who have promised a full investigation.
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