The story is hardly believable. On Sunday July 23, a captain from the American company United Airlines and his crew were preparing to take control of a Boeing 777, heading for Dallas, with 267 passengers on board.
It was then that the air transport gendarmerie at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport carried out the alcohol test of the airline pilot, of American nationality, aged 63, one hour before take-off.
The captain, whom the gendarmes noted that he had a pasty mouth, glassy eyes and difficulty in expressing himself, was finally tested positive with a rate of 1,32 g of alcohol per liter of blood, which is well beyond the limit of 0,2 g tolerated by European regulations.
First placed in police custody, the pilot was tried on Tuesday July 25 in an immediate appearance at the Bobigny court. He received a six-month suspended prison sentence, a one-year suspension of his flight license and a fine of 4.500 euros. He walked free from court, but will likely face further sanctions in his own country.
Other similar condemnations have already taken place around the world. In 2018, a British court sentenced a Japan Airlines co-pilot to ten months in prison for having a blood alcohol level ten times above the legal limit.
And in 2015, four crew members of a Latvian carrier were jailed for up to XNUMX months for consuming bottles of whiskey and beer shortly before their plane left Norway. _AF
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