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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">.......... if the pilot of the aircraft would have talked with Ryan either in the galley or jetway I firmly believe Ryan would have been able to fly</font>
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I don't know if the FAA permits those "under the influence" to fly, the CAA certainly does not. If the captain is alerted to a drunk passenger here in Great Britain, he/she has no absolutely no discretion in the matter, he/she [/i][/b]must[/i][/b] be offloaded.
Friendly, or passive drunks (Like me, I just doze off), unfortunately have been known to change into bellicose tyrants, once the cabin pressure forces more alcohol into the brain cells.
Even if the lives of the aircraft's occupants are not put in danger, the ranting and raving of a drunk cause alarm and can be quite traumatising for passengers trapped at 36000 feet in a flexing aluminium tube!