posted 06-22-2004 03:33 PM                       

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A Virgin Atlantic pilot has been charged with trying to fly a plane packed with hundreds of passengers after drinking.

Captain Richard Harwell, 55, was arrested on Friday night shortly before he was due to fly thousands of miles across the Atlantic from Washington DC to Heathrow.

Captain Harwell, who is American but lives with his family in the UK, was held after airport staff allegedly detected alcohol on his breath as he underwent routine pre-flight security checks.

The 383 stranded passengers on board last night's flight VS22 were put up in hotels until a new crew could be found.

They are expected to fly out at 18.15 local time on Saturday night (2315 GMT), arriving on Sunday morning.

A spokeswoman for Dulles airport in Washington said security officials alerted a Virgin supervisor having observed Mr Harwell passing through the ticket counter area.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said Mr Harwell had been with the airline 14 years and had an "unblemished record".

He said: "Everyone at Virgin Atlantic is shocked and surprised. This is unprecedented - it's the first time it has happened in the 20 years we've been operating.

"We are at a loss to explain what has happened."

Virgin Atlantic told the BBC it operated a strict no-alcohol policy and an internal inquiry was being started.

Captain Harwell was escorted off the plane by Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority Police and charged with attempting to operate an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol.

A Virgin spokesman said he was still in custody and the issue of bail would be established later.

"We will be talking to him and the authorities over the coming weeks to find out what has happened," he added.

Stranded passenger Peter Markham told BBC News: "First we were told it was a security problem and then that catering services were a bit late.

"The passengers took that for a little while but eventually they began to realise there was more to it and Virgin Atlantic had to tell us what exactly was the problem, but it took a long time."

Virgin Atlantic spokesman Paul Moore said: "The safety and security of our passengers at Virgin Atlantic is our paramount priority."

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British Airways has suspended two pilots and a member of cabin crew suspected of being on duty after drinking. The pilot, co-pilot and head of cabin crew were arrested by police in Norway, ahead of an Oslo to Heathrow flight. BA said the trio could lose their jobs for gross misconduct and that it had a zero tolerance policy for alcohol.

The staff, who had been reported by colleagues, are in the UK awaiting the results of blood tests.

Norwegian police said the crew members had all failed breathalyser tests, shortly before their flight, BA 761, was due to leave Norway at 0445 GMT on Tuesday. The flight was cancelled and its 55 passengers transferred to a Scandinavian Airlines plane.

A BA spokeswoman said: "All three members of staff have been suspended. A formal disciplinary process has begun." She said it was a disciplinary offence for an employee to report for work drunk and that it can result in dismissal.

The spokeswoman said that if it was deemed that there is a case to answer, disciplinary hearings would take place within one week The trio also face the possibility of legal action in Norway, where air crew must adhere to the same alcohol laws as drivers.

Norwegian police said they would decide whether or not to take action after seeing the results of the blood tests, which are due back within two weeks. A spokesman said: "Our police lawyers are seeing if the case has to be dealt with here or if it is possible to hand it over to the English authorities."

Staff at Oslo Airport are also being interviewed about the alleged incident, he added.

The British Civil Aviation Authority said it could also decide to take action, depending on the route taken by BA and Norwegian police. It said: "We can withdraw pilots' medical certificates which would prevent them from flying."

BA said this was the fifth incident of its kind at the airline in the last six years. Captain Graeme Holden, of the Isle of Man, lost a claim for unfair dismissal in September, after BA dismissed him over a breach of its alcohol rules. Another pilot was sacked in February after being breathalysed before a flight from Sweden to London Heathrow.

The company's rules state crews should only consume alcohol in moderation in the 24 hours before reporting for duty. They should not consume any alcohol in the last eight hours, and have no alcohol left in their bloodstream when reporting for duty.

Civil Aviation Authority rules are less strict. They say aircrew cannot be on a plane or report for duty while drunk or under the influence of drugs, but there is no specified alcohol limit. A new limit of 20 mg per 100 ml of blood - a quarter of the drink driving limit - is contained in a law passed earlier this year, but a date for introducing the limit has yet to be set.

Few of the UK's 10,000 commercial pilots lose their licences because of alcohol offences. The number is only about 12 or 15 a year, and most of these are later reinstated.

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posted 06-22-2004 05:05 PM                       

quote: Leo Enticknap

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After having discovered that being a dipsomaniac is clearly a basic entry qualification for their pilot training programme, I don't think I'll be booking with them in a hurry, either.

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Leo, you say that like being a dipsomaniac is a bad thing.

Seriously, and fortunately, alcoholism amongst professional pilots is not as widespread as the stereotype (the same one that paints fighter pilots as hard drinkers) makes it out to be. Still, the image persists, and it's not altogether unwarranted. All airlines and pilot unions have zero tolerance for this sort of thing, as did all of the colleagues I had the privilege to fly with over the years. As stern as they are about drinking and flying, the airlines and the various pilot's unions (APA, ALPA, IALPA, SWAPA) are progressive enough in their thinking to have programs in place (e.g. the HIMS program) to rehabilitate these guys and get them back into service. The tremendous cost of grooming, training, and maintaining the typical airline captain pretty much demands that such programs be made available.

In 17 years of flying, I've been witness to only one such incident. The guy in question was an F/O (First Officer) who happened to be in my initial training class at Scenic Airlines. He was an ex-navy C-130 pilot building flight time like the rest of us, hoping to land a real flying job at a real airline someday. I flew in the simulator with him--he was a nice guy who got along well with everyone, that being the primary trait necessary to survive long enough in the business to make it to captain's school.

For some reason, one day he showed up looking like he had slept in his uniform (because he had, as we found out later). During the preflight checks, his captain smelled booze on the guy's breath. That pretty much ended the guy's career with Scenic right there, as he was a newbie F/O on new-hire probation. Scenic didn't have a HIMS program. At least the company didn't turn him in to the FAA--that would have meant the end of his certificate. Don't know if he ever cleaned up and got on with another carrier or not--the last I heard, he was selling textbooks to schools somewhere.