Drunk pilots won't face prosecution

[skymama 37]

Read it here.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[quade 4]

Your subject line is a little misleading.

They won't face prosecution in a Florida State court, but they absolutely will face prosecution at the Federal level.

What they did is a Federal, not a State, issue.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Deuce 1]

Greenie fight!

[skycat 0]

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They likely will avoid federal prosecution as well.

Because the pilots' blood-alcohol level was below 0.10, they would not meet federal standards for prosecution, however.

Got your back mama

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America West fired the two men and the Federal Aviation Administration has revoked their pilot licenses.

Of course they didn't get away scott free.

Fly it like you stole it!

[DJL 235]

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Greenie fight!

In before the lock.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[quade 4]

FAR 91.17

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91.17 Alcohol or drugs.

(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft --

(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;

(2) While under the influence of alcohol;

(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or

(4) While having .04 percent by weight or more alcohol in the blood.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[TEB6363 0]

Greenie Fight!! Paul and Andrea rolling around wrestling in a kiddie pool of Jello!!! Paul Fully Dressed - SkyMama missing most of her clothes!!

Once the plane takes off, you're gonna have to land - Might as well jump out!!

[skycat 0]

Come on now quade you know the media is always right, so .10 is the right answer.

Fly it like you stole it!

[AndyMan 7]

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FAR 91.17

Right, and that's why the pilots lost their licences.

There does not appear to be any criminal action being pursued by the FAA, hense that they will get off with just the lost licence.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[lawrocket 3]

I've got you back, quade.

Unless skymama will pay me to change my position.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Snowflake 0]

see this http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/05/pilots.hearing/index.html

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FAA rules prohibit a pilot to fly with a blood alcholol level greater than .04. Federal law allows criminal prosecution at .10.

[AndyMan 7]

Incidentaly, that was also in the original article skymama posted.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Guest]

The won't fly for the majors again; they probably won't fly for anybody but a cropduster operation in Podunk, Oklahoma. Even if they don't do time, they won't be putting pax at risk anymore, so the problem is solved anyway.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[quade 4]

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There does not appear to be any criminal action being pursued by the FAA . . .

Ever deal with the FAA? They can be very slow and methodical. (TWA Flight 800 for instance.)

Flip-side -- ever watch a local case (say Kobe for instance) where there is an election coming up? In that particular case, the Kobe case, the press conference was quickly called but at a specific time the next day so that it would be possible to air for maximum coverage.

The FAA has no such motivations in this case.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AndyMan 7]

Pilots Guilty of Being Drunk in Cockpit.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-drunken-pilots,1,2118171.story?coll=chi-news-hed

By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press Writer
Published June 8, 2005, 1:38 PM CDT

MIAMI -- Two former America West pilots were convicted Wednesday of being drunk in the cockpit after an all-night drinking binge at a sports bar.

They face a minimum of probation and a maximum of five years in prison after being found guilty of operating an aircraft while drunk.

Defendants Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes both bowed their heads when the verdict was read after a two-week trial and jury deliberations over parts of two days. Each man hugged weeping loved ones before being handcuffed and taken to jail.

Cloyd and Hughes were arrested July 1, 2002, as their Phoenix-bound jet was being pushed back from its gate at Miami International Airport.

Police ordered the plane to turn back and arrested the pilots after security screeners smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Hughes, and Cloyd got in an argument over his attempts to bring aboard a cup of coffee.

The pilots had 14 beers between them at a bar the night before the flight, closing out their $122 tab at about 4:40 a.m. -- roughly six hours before their flight was to depart. Hours later, they registered blood-alcohol levels above Florida's 0.08 legal limit.

The pilots maintained they were not operating the aircraft because it was being pushed by a runway tug and its steering was disengaged at the time it was ordered back to the terminal. They were fired by America West after their arrests and lost their commercial pilot's licenses.

"Within the aviation community, it was clear they were operating this aircraft," said prosecutor Armando Hernandez.

Assistant State Attorney Deisy Rodriguez called the defendants "stumbling, fumbling" drunks who put 124 passengers and three flight attendants in grave danger.

The pilots refused comment, as did their attorneys.

Judge David Young ordered both men held without bail and set sentencing for July 20.

_Am

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You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[skydiver51 0]

Hey dude, go back to school. There ain't no town named Podunk here in Oklahoma.

[indyz 1]

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The pilots had 14 beers between them at a bar the night before the flight, closing out their $122 tab at about 4:40 a.m.

At those prices, I couldn't afford to get drunk.

[JohnRich 4]

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The pilots had 14 beers between them at a bar the night before the flight, closing out their $122 tab at about 4:40 a.m.

At those prices, I couldn't afford to get drunk.

I saw pieces of this trial on Court TV. There was more on that bar tab then just 14 beers. There were some hard-liquor drinks also. The defense argued that the pilots were buying those drinks for others, and didn't drink them themselves. So the bar tab included much more than just the 14 beers. But that's what the court is pretty sure of that they personally drank themselves.

[diverdriver 7]

The problem with this prosecution is that it was done by the STATE of Florida. That's just wrong. Aviation is the perview of the FAA and should be handled within the FAA rules. Don't get me wrong. These guys deserved punishment. But this sets a BAD precedence towards aviation in general and pilots in particular.

Say your jump pilot has an engine out and does a beautiful deadstick landing in a adjacent farm field. The pilot gets prosecuted for trespassing/endangering the public by a state/local entity. Now there is precedence to do it.

As my Aviation Law professor would say in his southern drawl "This is bad lawww."

Chris Schindler
www.diverdriver.com
ATP/D-19012
FB #4125

[unformed 0]

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The pilots had 14 beers between them at a bar the night before the flight, closing out their $122 tab at about 4:40 a.m.

At those prices, I couldn't afford to get drunk.

you're not an alcoholic, are you? we've beat that just pregaming, and the bartender was cutting us a deal.

This ad space for sale.

[airtwardo 7]

Say your jump pilot has an engine out and does a beautiful deadstick landing in a adjacent farm field. The pilot gets prosecuted for trespassing/endangering the public by a state/local entity. Now there is precedence to do it.


***

I don't think that case would stand a chance in court because of the lack of intent regarding those violations.

These guys got spanked, but not hard enough IMO,
they knew they were at or above the limit...

If you need to drink THAT bad you have a problem, their employer has a program that they could have enrolled in for help and it wouldn't have cost them their careers.




...and Podunk is in Arkansas..not Oklahoma!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[diverdriver 7]

Don't get me wrong. I think these guys needed to get spanked. But... the "box" is now open.

[slug 1]

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The pilots had 14 beers between them at a bar the night before the flight, closing out their $122 tab at about 4:40 a.m.

At those prices, I couldn't afford to get drunk.

you're not an alcoholic, are you? we've beat that just pregaming, and the bartender was cutting us a deal.

The prosecutor had the 14 Beer containers entered into evidence. The "14 beers" were actually 14 pitchers of beer". The pilots ran a tab in the bar so the times were on the reciept paid via CC, and the hotel room key (computer card) recorded the time the pilotreturned to his room from the bar and left to go to work.

I guess there's a 8 hr FAA reg about 8hr's from bottle to throttle the pilot had 5 hrs plus the breatherlizer test. The polots lawyer submitted a plea bargin for 14 month's befor the trial started but the judge wouldn't accept it.

Sentence will be announced in july, until then the ex pilots now convicted felons will wait in the dade county jail unless their lawyers can get them out until they go to prison.

BTW per court TV "FAA regs require pilots take a random piss test". I guess to prevent stuff like this from happening

R.I.P.

R.I.P.

R.I.P.

[JohnMitchell 16]

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BTW per court TV "FAA regs require pilots take a random piss test". I guess to prevent stuff like this from happening

.

Naw, we piss in a bottle for drugs, we blow in a straw for alcohol. You remember the drill from your D.O.D. days, don't you?