Its nice to be able to have a drink while in the air but the events in Madrid yesterday show the importance of sobriety whilst flying as a passenger. How the hell can you get out of an aircraft in an emergency if your drunk. Not ony are you puting yourself at risk but those around you in the event of an emergency.

I hope that more airlines start to manage the amount of alcohol thats drunk onboardsimilarly the airports should inform the airlines in they see someone knocking them back before flight.

I also hope that more airlines take civil action against those who force a diversion for being drunk and recover the extra fuel costs, airframe hours, staff wages etc of a diversion.

Steve

Airtravel is pretty safe, so focusing 100% on excape possibilities while flying, seems slightly over the top. I always enjoy a beer or two when flying (no im not a pilot :D).

Naturally you can’t have drunk passagers, but removing alcohol on the grounds of safety would be misusing (and thus undermining) the idea of aircraft safety.

There are people who “need” a few drinks to relax while flying. So instead of the occasional tipsy PAX, you might have a panic-stricken passanger (heartattack symptoms and perhaps another unscheduled landing – Oh, it has happened).

Airlines need to manage the alcohol consumption (as they legally have to, when serving alcohol) of their passangers. The Irish lads on the flight above, would either have been too drunk to enter the plane in Ireland, or they had been served on the plane (or been drinking their own booze). Either way, the airline staff could have prevented the events (Im not actually blaming them, just saying they could have managed the consumption).

I have yet to hear about an accident caused by a drunken passenger, or a drunken passenger causing further damage/death during an accident. Once they can prove drinking on aircraft is directly dangerous, then they can ban it on safety reasons – not before it can be proven, on the grounds of assumptions and heresay.