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LHR-HND co-pilot arrested for excessive alcohol consumption before flight

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LHR-HND co-pilot arrested for excessive alcohol consumption before flight

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Old Dec 20, 2018, 7:34 am
  #31  
 
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Anther case posted on JAL website. Least applaud JAL for being forth coming about this rather than wait till appear on the press.

Dec. 17, JL 786 NRT-HNL. Before the flight all FAs went through breathalyzer and all has recorded 0.00 mg/L. After the first meal service during the flight one flight attendant noticed smell of alcohol from a FA right near by, reported to the Lead FA. The Lead FA tested the FA in question with a breathalyzer (I did not know that JAL carry a breathalyzer on their flights), at that time about 3 hrs. after the take off and recorded 0.15 mg/L. Was tested again 30 min. later and got 0.10 mg/L. The FA was put on off duty from the first test conducted about 3 hrs. after the takeoff. At arrival at HNL the FA was tested again using another breathalyzer and recorded 0.00 mg/L. The FA in question made the statement that did not consume any alcoholic beverages. JAL will further investigate the matter.

Wonder what more JAL can investigate at this moment?
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 7:59 am
  #32  
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There is probably not much they can do. I don't think a breathalyzer test alone holds up in court, and doing a blood sample was not really possible.

Though I doubt that the two rests would have shown positive without reason.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 8:07 am
  #33  
 
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Newspaper article has little more detail. The FA in question is a senior FA and was interviewed by a company after she returned to NRT. The FA was not on duty on return HNL-NRT flight. The FA stated that she has not had alcohol beverage since Dec. 14. The FA stated that she is currently having a procedure on her teeth so that she cannot brush her teeth. She has been using mouth wash, and during the flight she was concerned about smell of her breath in front of passenger so she used mouth wash few times during the flight. JAL is contacting the manufacturer of the breathalyzer regarding possibility of use of mouth wash shows up on the test.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 9:47 am
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by CPH-Flyer
That's the caee from the start of the thread.

I am impressed how quickly the UK can process a case. I wonder if that is because it is a foreigner, that they want to send to his home country to serve the time in prison?
Not quite as fast as they processed Tommy Robinson.
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 10:42 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by floridastorm
Not quite as fast as they processed Tommy Robinson.
Refresh my mind on what that case was.....
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Old Dec 20, 2018, 11:54 am
  #36  
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Japan Introduces Zero Alcohol Rule For Pilots Following Incident

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Link to full post

https://onemileatatime.com/japan-zero-alcohol-pilots/


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Old Dec 21, 2018, 4:20 am
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Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle
Newspaper article has little more detail. The FA in question is a senior FA and was interviewed by a company after she returned to NRT. The FA was not on duty on return HNL-NRT flight. The FA stated that she has not had alcohol beverage since Dec. 14. The FA stated that she is currently having a procedure on her teeth so that she cannot brush her teeth. She has been using mouth wash, and during the flight she was concerned about smell of her breath in front of passenger so she used mouth wash few times during the flight. JAL is contacting the manufacturer of the breathalyzer regarding possibility of use of mouth wash shows up on the test.
Couldn't they just buy a bottle and test it themselves? Mouthwash was been known to give false readings on police breathalyser tests and that's why (afaik) some police agencies take you in for a blood test as conclusive proof.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 7:38 am
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by CPH-Flyer
Refresh my mind on what that case was.....
https://russia-insider.com/en/550k-s...l-farage-video


Robinson was finally released from prison after millions of people worldwide petitioned the British Government. He was originally arrested, tried before a judge, and sentenced to prison within two hours of the arrest. He was not allowed an attorney nor even a phone call. He was put into the most notorious prison known for Muslim gangs and he was assaulted by them while in prison. His life was in danger 24/7 as the prison guards would not protect him.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 8:18 am
  #39  
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Originally Posted by floridastorm
https://russia-insider.com/en/550k-s...l-farage-video


Robinson was finally released from prison after millions of people worldwide petitioned the British Government. He was originally arrested, tried before a judge, and sentenced to prison within two hours of the arrest. He was not allowed an attorney nor even a phone call. He was put into the most notorious prison known for Muslim gangs and he was assaulted by them while in prison. His life was in danger 24/7 as the prison guards would not protect him.
Without going all OMNI territory on this one, you might want to get a bit more balanced and reputable sources on this topic. Let's just say I spent a bit of time reading up on the dude, but don't really want to discuss it in this thread.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 9:03 am
  #40  
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Originally Posted by AlwaysAisle
Newspaper article has little more detail. The FA in question is a senior FA and was interviewed by a company after she returned to NRT. The FA was not on duty on return HNL-NRT flight. The FA stated that she has not had alcohol beverage since Dec. 14. The FA stated that she is currently having a procedure on her teeth so that she cannot brush her teeth. She has been using mouth wash, and during the flight she was concerned about smell of her breath in front of passenger so she used mouth wash few times during the flight. JAL is contacting the manufacturer of the breathalyzer regarding possibility of use of mouth wash shows up on the test.
Some but not all mouthwash does contain alcohol. It could easily give cause a positive reading (slightly above zero but not at the intoxicated level) on a breathalyzer test, although I think it would be hard for it to cause such high readings unless the person had been drinking the mouthwash (and therefore consuming the alcohol in it). I wonder whether there are brands where a fairly small volume of the mouthwash would be the equivalent of an alcoholic drink if swallowed. Maybe if the FA took a couple big swigs of the mouthwash and swallowed, and did this several times during the first few hours of the flight....OTOH, mouthwash shouldn't cause one to smell like alcohol, so I'm suspicious of the other FA reporting that she smelled like she had been drinking. It also seems odd that JAL forced the FAs to all do the breathalyzer test before working the flight, as I wouldn't think that this would be standard, so I wonder whether there had been previous reports so that management was looking for a problem. I'm guessing that this is a six or eight hour flight, so going form 0.15 to 0.10 within a half hour makes the breathalyzer readings on the flight seem suspicious, and then 0.10 to zero in another three to five hours I guess is within the possible range? Or should the reading decline a good bit in this time range but still show above zero after only about five hours?

If she said that she hadn't consumed alcohol in several days, this would be the borderline for some urine tests to find (but not measure the amount) the alcohol. However, since these tests seem to be able to find trace amounts (for example, from certain medications), mouthwash containing alcohol should cause a positive test result.

I wonder whether she could/should have demanded a blood test when the flight landed.

It's also curious that she didn't use the mouthwash before the flight (wasn't she concerned about her breath then?) so that it should have shown on the breathalyzer test before starting to work the flight, although I guess it's possible that she purchased a different brand to replace her supply, perhaps in the airport.
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Old Dec 22, 2018, 9:10 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
It's also curious that she didn't use the mouthwash before the flight (wasn't she concerned about her breath then?) so that it should have shown on the breathalyzer test before starting to work the flight, although I guess it's possible that she purchased a different brand to replace her supply, perhaps in the airport.
JAL has mouthwash onboard for long haul flights. I’ve never flown the Hawaiian routes so don’t know if it’s loaded for those flights.
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Old Dec 25, 2018, 7:05 am
  #42  
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https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...e-on-duty.html
ooks like the CA had a bottle of PY champagne
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Old Dec 25, 2018, 10:25 am
  #43  
 
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The airline said on Thursday that another pilot had evaded breathalyzer tests prior to flights over 100 times since last year.
Wow.
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Old Dec 25, 2018, 11:11 am
  #44  
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I wonder a few things here.

One, how to come to the conclusion that an empty bottle came from it being consumed by a crew member. Do they count so carefully how much they serve

Two, why would she even do that. If it is that closely monitored she should know that it could easily be spotted.

Three, even if it is not that detailed monitored Why? It will cost her the job.

Looking at the links I get under the article, I does seem Japan has a problem in this category
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Old Dec 25, 2018, 2:02 pm
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Originally Posted by CPH-Flyer
I wonder a few things here.

One, how to come to the conclusion that an empty bottle came from it being consumed by a crew member. Do they count so carefully how much they serve

Two, why would she even do that. If it is that closely monitored she should know that it could easily be spotted.

Three, even if it is not that detailed monitored Why? It will cost her the job.
I see CAs making notes as they serve from the cart during drinks/meal service. Maybe they do note what they’re serving, particularly of “premium” items such as the champagne to know how much is left and not serve it to regular Y pax?

The article above notes the CA had a previous incident in November. Sounds like it was clouding rational decision making.
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