Canadian North has fired one of its pilots for allegedly drinking within 12 hours of reporting for duty.
The breach violates the airline’s own policy as well as Canadian Aviation Regulations, which prohibit the consumption of alcohol within eight hours of reporting for crew duty.
In a news release, the president of Canadian North, Tracy Medve, said every pilot knows the rules about drinking.
“This is a fundamental obligation of a pilot for the privilege of holding a commercial pilot’s licence and I am profoundly disappointed this individual chose to disregard there requirements,” she said.
Medve added the airline is doing everything it can to ensure something like this does not happen again.
The pilot has not been named.
Airport security officer smelled alcohol
The Canadian North flight was grounded in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, last week.
A Transport Canada incident report says a security officer at the Iqaluit airport called the airline Thursday to report that a crew member on a flight to Qikiqtarjuaq smelled of alcohol.
The airline contacted the RCMP in Qikiqtarjuaq to ask that the flight be met on arrival.
After landing without incident, the crew member was taken to the local RCMP detachment for questioning.
A blood sample was authorized and taken. Charges are pending based on the results.
Aviation enforcement and the RCMP are co-operating in the investigation.
(CBC News)
http://updatednews.ca/2012/06/05/canadian-north-fires-pilot-for-allegedly-drinking/
By: fulcrum-aholic - 8th June 2012 at 13:47
From Iqaluit to Qikiqtarjuaq, it’s about 80-90 minutes flight non-stop. That is, if it doesn’t stopover first to Pangnirtung. I don’t know whether the airlines stopover first to Pang, anymore, last time I flew up there was almost 4 years ago…
MAAKUSIMI.
By: Garyw - 7th June 2012 at 22:30
How long is the flight from Iqaluit s to Qikiqtarjuaq? If he got pulled at Qikiqtarjuaq due to the alcohol levels how impaired was he before take off and why didn’t the other pilot on the flight deck say anything?
By: fulcrum-aholic - 7th June 2012 at 13:52
What I don’t get is that when the Security in Iqaluit smelled alcohol from the pilot, the plane was still able to take-off to Qikiqtarjuaq…
By: Arabella-Cox - 7th June 2012 at 10:24
Could be – Nunavut sounds a rather bleak place.
Still, safety is safety and this individual appears to have screwed-up bigtime. I do feel a little sorry for him, though. I’ll bet he’s regretting his stupidity now.
By: J Boyle - 7th June 2012 at 00:07
…especially in a hostile environment like Nunavut.
That may be part of the trouble. :D:diablo:
By: Garyw - 6th June 2012 at 18:53
which is why the general rule is ’24 hours from bottle to throttle’.
It makes no sense to me that a pilot would choose to drink knowing they had a flight to do especially in a hostile environment like Nunavut.
By: Arabella-Cox - 6th June 2012 at 17:49
You can stop drinking 12 hours before the flight and still have alcohol in your blood if you drank a huge amount.
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June 6, 2012 at 4:37 pm