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Air Japan pilot bumped off flight after failing breath test

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If not, find another career that doesn't endanger lives

I really, really don't want to fly in planes with drunk pilots. But that said, let's be real, if the pilot is drunk, you're probably still very safe. It's not like cars where there are things to collide into for the most part. And planes pretty much fly themselves these days.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

These men have a serious alcohol abuse problem... They need to go to AA meetings... If not, find another career that doesn't endanger lives

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm getting a little concerned here about the behavior of these pilots.

Makes me wonder about US pilots and no doubt about Russian pilots.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan does not recognize alcoholism as a problem. It is part of the culture. Realistically, anybody who drinks heavily more than two or three times a month has alcohol abuse issues.

Using your criteria, many college students in Japan, the US, and the UK (the three countries where I have taught) have serious alcohol abuse issues. Drinking heavily two or three times a week is the norm for some males at the universities where I have taught. In Britain, women compete with the men. Based on a decade of living and working in Britain before moving to Japan, I would say that British culture is at least as tolerant of heavy drinking as that of Japan. Search on "binge drinking" for the US or UK for reference.

Overall per capital consumption of alcohol in Japan is well below the OECD average and declining. This has been reported in various venues including Japan Today.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/studies-show-japanese-people-drinking-less-than-ever

This is one reason why Japanese drinks companies are buying up foreign companies such as the recent purchase of London Pride by Asahi.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Cricky: No, he got 14+ hrs notice. So, if he had stopped moderate drinking by 11pm, then all should have been ok, except either he didn't or his system doesn't handle alcohol well at all.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

So he got 2hrs 40 minutes notice that he had to work? As we know you can't say no. It was rostered time off but still called in. Of course he turned up and lied it would be culturally naive not to. Perhaps the drinking is secondary to the subordination to authorities, that might be the bigger problem. Anyway they will replace him and expect the same from his replacement.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

According to the site below, for driving:

"If your breath alcohol content (BrAC) is over 0.15 mg/L (a blood alcohol content, or BAC, of about 0.03%*), it is a 13 point offence."

http://www.accessj.com/2013/04/drunk-driving-in-japan-alcohol-levels.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan does not recognize alcoholism as a problem. It is part of the culture. Realistically, anybody who drinks heavily more than two or three times a month has alcohol abuse issues.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Something amiss in this story.

If he hadn't drunk alcohol for 12 ~ 15 hours but still registered 0.25 then he must have consumed way, way more than what he said - 2 to 3 times the limit.

Or he must have been consuming for much longer into the no alcohol period as required.

Or the tests are faulty.

But the problem is as Do the hustle said - the abuse of alcohol by pilots who have the safety of hundreds in their hands.

What I don't understand is - if I attempted to drive my car with a level of 0.25 then I'd be wearing a hard mat for months and have a social pariah sign stuck on my forehead for eternity.

Do these pilots suffer the same fate?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The pilot started drinking vodka at home before 5 p.m. and the company contacted him around 7:40 p.m. to request that he be on the flight. The company prohibits drinking in the 12 hours before a flight, and the pilot said he had not breached this regulation. The flight to Yangon was scheduled for 11 a.m.

Was the pilot on standby call that night?

If yes, he should've never started drinking at all.

Was the call a complete random surprise without notice?

If yes, blame the airline for not giving a proper amount of notice time. I mean sure, the flight was leaving at 11 am, but obviously the pilot needs to be there a lot earlier than 11.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Quote: "The company prohibits drinking in the 12 hours before a flight, and the pilot said he had not breached this regulation. The flight to Yangon was scheduled for 11 a.m. He was replaced by another pilot after breathalyzer tests before the flight detected 0.25 milligram of alcohol per liter."

He had not breached the the time regulation? So, I wonder what their (blood alcohol?) per liter limit is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The problem is not stricter controls. The problem is the amount of alcohol abuse by the Japanese flight crews.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

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