I mean its not like the guys was too drunk. Only four times the legal limit I operate my lawnmower with that all the time. Heck I still have 8 fingers and 6 toes left.

Wow. So are we to presume the flight crew smelled the booze stank and blew the whistle? Good on 'em for not ignoring it and going on with the flight. (Not that I presume that's what most flight crews would or wouldn't do, mind you - I have no frame of reference here.)

Any stats on how often pilots are caught flying or attempting to fly drunk?

*mental note, never fly American Airlines*

Arrests of drunken pilots are "quite infrequent," said a police spokesman who declined to be named, "We usually just let them go."

@Random_Tangent: Unless they're so completely tanked that they forget to use mouthwash.

@PSN: kingpsyz: I had this ''note'' on my mind for a while...

@PSN: kingpsyz: I don't see why this would make you not want to fly with them. Obviously they noticed and didn't let him fly.

Four times what legal limit? Each US state has a different limit, and I don't believe there is an over-riding federal limit. Or was it the British legal limit?

...No word yet on whether the autopilot cleared the breathalizer test as well.

@PSN: kingpsyz: how many airlines do you have mental notes on since reading consumerist?

A buddy of mine is an airline pilot. Drinking right up until flight time was a usual thing with him and his posse of pilots and flight attendants. I asked about the quitting time once and he said they were supposed to quit 8 hours before the scheduled flight "but it's just a guideline and nobody checks them so who cares"

He's a 747 captain....

FAA is 8 hours after consuming alcohol and 0.04 . Some airlines have stricter requirements. This guy has trashed a 6 figure income and a retirement. Idiot.

Y'know, he would have sobered up in time to land. People make such a big deal out of these things.

@silver-bolt: neither article says which limit - but he was in london at the time so it might have been 4 times the UK limit. or it might have been 4 times the FAA's limit since it says that they are the ones who impose random drug and alcohol testing

what is the pilot going to hit up in the sky? Clouds?

@snowburnt: All of them?

@snowburnt: For me, at least,it's zero. Consumerist stories represent far less than a fraction of a percent of all transactions, flights, or encounters. Forget the tens of millions of other flights out there with no hassle or trouble whatsoever...

@chapoec: The more relevant question is, what is this guy going to hit while landing? The ground, the terminal, other planes, ground personnel..

"Drunks on a plane"?

I suppose if he were sober it would be "shakes on a plane".

@supercereal: good for you, your skepticism of skepticism will get you far.

@snowburnt:
Well since most involve inconveniences, none until this. But having a pilot near coma drunk and thinking he could fly across the Atlantic has now kept me off the Silver bird with the A's on it forever.

@chemmy:
Hey could you do me a solid?

Kick your friend square in the nuts as hard as you can next time you see him and tell him Sully would be disapointed in him.

@chapoec:
other planes, bad weather, turbulence... should I go on?

@Shoelace:

Mouthwash has alcohol in it, thus does nothing to mask your breath.

Peanut butter, on the other hand...

Wait. There is a legal limit for pilots? I would think a few tons of complicated machinery that needs to be flown with utmost precision at 600 MPH 30,000 feet in the air the legal limit would be close to 0.00 as possible?

@Megalomania: Honestly, a transalantic flight would give him plenty of time to sober up to land. The rest is auto-pilot.

@chapoec: The only reason we don't let computers take over completely is because of take-off and landing, and sometimes human judgment is required. I would assume alcohol can impair judgment and slow down reaction times for take-off and landing.

@silver-bolt: It was probably the FAA's legal limit for airline pilots.

@Trai_Dep: The coffee maker in 1st class ratted him out - the tramp.

@snowburnt: Just one, U.S. Airways. That one, however, sprang out of not just the Consumerist, but personal experience. Worst. Airline. Ever.

@PSN: kingpsyz:

Sure thing. It's been a while since I've run into him since his base was changed to the west coast...

In addition, I'll smack him upside his thick head too...

@PSN: kingpsyz: Since the airlines don't get to control what the pilots are doing before a flight, I'm actually going to give them credit for catching this guy. This is more a +1 than a -1 for me.

@chapoec: I'm sure the folks who landed in the Hudson appreciated having a sober pilot on takeoff.

@chemmy:

Please do. He's making the rest of us look terrible.

@tangent4: Or the BAA, given that this was in Britain. It looks like that limit is 20 mg per 100 ml? My eyes glazed over trying to understand the different BAC measurements, so I think that'd be .02% in US terms but I'm not sure. (The British limit for driving is 80 mg per 100 ml, for what it's worth.)

@bball123h:
they hired him too...

@PSN: kingpsyz: they fired him too

@floraposte: You are correct. 0.02% really means 0.02 grams per 100 mL of blood, which is equal to 20 mg / 100mL.

I WANT THESE MOTHERFUCKING DRUNKS OFF MY MOTHERFUCKING PLANE!

@PSN: kingpsyz: I'm sure he was sober at the interview.

@bball123h:
Was he sober when he flew INTO London?

@FuryOfFirestorm: That's totally the sequel -- Drunk Snakes On A Plane. The snakes feel bad about their life choices for an hour and a half and then make you sing bad karaoke before you can deplane.

I think it's pretty awful that the pilot wasn't treated in the same regard as any other drunk passenger: beaten, raped, and stuffed into a holding cell for 36 hours.

Was the security post staff employed by Heathrow or by AA. Either way, good on them for being vigilant in this case. But seriously, WTF?!?! I guess stereotypes about pilots being drunkards isn't too far off, huh? I was kind of looking for a reason to fly AA less and less.

@chemmy: Your friend is going to make a plaintiffs' attorney very, very rich someday.

All airplanes should have a Breathalyzer interlock device. Every member of the flight crew should have to pass a Breathalyzer test before the plane can take off.

That would have been a great flight...just think of the acrobatics he probably would have done out over the Atlantic.

@tmed: He trained in Florida: never learned how to land.

@bball123h: I bet he wasn't too sober a couple hours later.