Posted on 12/29/2024 4:11:06 PM PST by libh8er
The transport ministry ordered Japan Airlines Co. to clean up its act after a drinking episode involving a pilot and his co-pilot that was uncovered after an international flight.
The ministry issued a business improvement recommendation, a form of administrative guidance, to the company on Dec. 27.
According to the ministry and the company, the captain and his co-pilot began drinking at a restaurant on the day before an international flight from Australia to Japan and ended up consuming three times the company’s legal limit.
It emerged they then later conspired to pretend that their alcohol intake was within the legal limit.
The two men were scheduled to operate Flight JL774 from Melbourne to Narita Airport on the morning of Dec. 1.
During an early morning self-diagnosis test at the hotel, the captain found he was under the influence of alcohol but failed to report the matter to the company, and delayed leaving the hotel, citing “poor health.”
The co-pilot was also found to be under the influence of alcohol during voluntary tests at the hotel and the airport, but failed to inform the company he had been drinking.
As a result, the flight departed 3 hours and 11 minutes behind schedule.
After the flight, when interviewed by the company, the pair initially concealed the fact they had consumed more than the prescribed amount of alcohol.
But on Dec. 3, they admitted to boozing it up on the day before the flight, the company said Dec. 10.
JAL’s internal regulations stipulate that flight crews must not drink alcohol 12 hours before a flight and that the amount consumed beforehand be within 40 grams, equivalent to half a bottle of wine.
According to the company, the two ordered one glass of sparkling wine each and three bottles of wine at a restaurant in Melbourne between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the day before the flight.
If they had drunk all of the wine, it would have been equivalent to an alcohol reading of about six times the company’s limit, JAL said.
The ministry issued business improvement orders against JAL twice in 2018 and 2019 due to issues involving pilots drinking alcohol.
Separately, the co-pilot in the latest case violated JAL’s alcohol stipulation in 2018.
In April of this year, a male captain was so drunk at a hotel in the United States that the police were called, resulting in the cancellation of a flight.
The ministry handed JAL a severe warning over the incident.
Since yet another incident has occurred, the ministry decided to issue administrative guidance, pointing out that JAL’s measures to prevent a recurrence after the previous severe warning “did not function adequately.”
In a statement, JAL said, “We take the loss of customer trust extremely seriously and will do our utmost to prevent it happening again.”
As for the Korean pilots returning from Bangcock, we may never know what their blood alcohol level were - normal or otherwise.
3 bottles of wine.
Enjoy your flight (statistics and all). /s
later
[As a result, the flight departed 3 hours and 11 minutes behind schedule.]
Management became suspicious when the departure was so timely. No flight has ever left less than four hours late!
Foster Brooks lives on.
I wonder if Foster Brooks wore Foster Grants. They are good for hiding red-eye.
Oh, be cool, for once, Japan.
The plane didn’t crash, no harm, no foul.
I know I usually get hammered before a flight, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
They are good for hiding red-eye.<<<
Are you sure you’re not an airline pilot?
Nah.
Ice road trucker!
Photo.
Nancy told me to ask for the private stock for her special friends. After a bottle of that I said “what election loss?” That stuff is strong.
The loop the loops and buzzing the air control tower gave them away.
Returning from Bangkok.
At least the pilots weren’t over Macho Grande.
You ever fall in the drink?
No I play it on my computer, staying warm and dry.
Do you have any proof?
Some don’t know how to have a good time, some deal with corporate bull the only way they can.
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