Pilot arrested 'for failing breath test' minutes before he was due to fly plane carrying 300 passengers
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:41 AM on 27th April 2009
Marching orders: Pilot Daniel Dufour was arrested for being over the alcohol limit just before take-off from Heathrow
A pilot was marched off his plane and arrested for being over the alcohol limit moments before he was set to take off from Heathrow Airport.
Security staff at Terminal 3 alerted police claiming they could smell alcohol on Daniel Dufour's breath.
The 45-year-old captain was then hauled out of the cockpit and arrested after failing a breath test.
Dufour had been due to fly 300 passengers on a nine-hour trip to Calgary from London on the Air Canada Flight AC851.
He had allegedly been drinking with colleagues the previous night, according to The Sun.
A police source told the newspaper: 'He was amazed to be still over the limit in the middle of the day.
'He was close to tears. At this stage he appears to have thrown away his distinguished career.'
A reserve captain was called in to fly the Airbus A330.
Dufour was taken to Heathrow police station where he gave a blood sample and was reportedly bailed for further inquiries.
Shock: Horrified crew and passengers looked on as Captain Dufour was led off an Air Canada plane
His arrest comes four months after Jet Airways pilot Michael Harr was arrested at Heathrow over fears he had drunk too much to fly.
The plane, which also had 300 passengers on board, was about to begin a nine-hour flight to Mumbai when airport staff told security Harr smelled of alcohol.
Airline pilots are banned from drinking alcohol less than eight hours before flying - the so-called 'bottle to throttle' rule. They are deemed unfit to fly if they are a quarter of the drink-drive limit - 20mg per 100ml of blood.
What scares me the most about this article was that I have made that 9hr flight from Heathrow on Air Canada. Drinking and driving is obviously stupid, and even worse if you are drinking and driving on the job, such as a delivery person, or a bus driver. BUT A PILOT! It's a little harder maneuvering a massive aircraft through the sky and then landing it on a tiny airstrip while, oh yea, carrying 300 people! This guy went out drinking the night before and was STILL over the legal limit in the middle of the next day. I mean, sounds like he might be a fun guy to party with but you better make sure your taking a cab home.
I used to work at a country club which held functions upstairs and it would drive me nuts because while proms were happening upstairs, the limo drivers were at the bar having cocktails. No, they were not getting disastrously drunk. If they were just out to dinner and having a couple of drinks it would be fine. But no, they are driving 12 teenagers around. I remember how worried parents were about drinking at after prom parties. That was why you got the limo, to prevent drunk driving. But would ever think as a parent that you would need to worry about the limo driver? How about as a passenger, have you ever worried about the sober level of your pilot?!
No comments:
Post a Comment