ANA copilot fails alcohol test, causing delay to flight from Naha

Thursday 23rd October, 12:37 PM JST

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michelelisa at 03:05 PM JST - 23rd October

The Aviation industry is very strict with its standards in regards to 'piloting' under the influence of alcohol. The standard of no alcohol 8 hours before piloting is also true in Australia, and I think ANA's in-house rule of 12 hours is a great stance for the company to take. The limit of 0.1mg/L is quite reasonable because it takes into account that a tiny amount of alcohol can be in taken whilst eating/drinking non-alcoholic items. Not to mention no breath-testing machine is ever 100% accurate. I think what makes this story news-worthy was the fact the flight was delayed(and really,that's news?!?), and ANA told a white lie.
Okinawamike at 03:11 PM JST - 23rd October

ANA:

Always late

Never on time

Always "apologize to the passengers for the trouble"

Now, if I did not have this damn Star Alliance mailage card!
Disillusioned at 03:37 PM JST - 23rd October
I'll drive "Hick!" Let me drive "Hick!" Have you seen my keys? Which plane is it again?
- Why isn't this joker facing disciplinary action? Why weren't the passengers compensated? The idiot's salary should be split between the passengers for making them wait while he worked on his hangover.
GenevaMan at 05:09 PM JST - 23rd October

ANA has some pokemon planes in their fleet. That would suck to die in a pokemon plane...
Proffessor at 05:44 PM JST - 23rd October

From my own experience, operating aircraft with a hang over can be more fatal than actually would be when one is drunk at the time.
buffalo at 06:03 PM JST - 23rd October

A jar of beer? let em fly they need the money!
PepinGalarga at 10:30 PM JST - 23rd October

I would have loved to be on that flight. Must have felt like being on an Air France flight, those cowboys.

Professor is right, some of the symptoms of hangover are confusion, inability to make quick decisions, delayed reaction time, seeing strange lights, etc etc.
Weasel at 10:43 PM JST - 23rd October

It is one thing to drive your own car with a hang-over and it is completely different to FLY a JUMBO JET with hundreds of people's lives at risk..."

No not really, you're still endangering the lives of other motorist driving, albeit at a less impaired level than if you were totally croaked from drinking at the Admirals Club at the airport terminal.
kiwiboy at 12:08 AM JST - 24th October

New Zealand's driving alcohol limit is 0.8 (about 2-3 beers). Japan's is 0.03 (not worth risking even one beer). The limit for a pilot is 0.01. That's less than a third of glass of beer. Not enough to have any real effect at all. He was tested and failed, then tested 2 hours later and passed. So really there would have been no risk anyway. I hope he isn't fired, after all if the pilot was drinking (more than 12hrs before the flight btw) he probably couldn't have said no (the whole sempai thing). I wonder if it was a random spot test, or if they test all their pilots before every flight. I'm sure he wont ever do it again, the shame will be enough as it is.
dontpanic at 01:15 AM JST - 24th October

Cant believe some of the comments here. The guy turned up to work with an excess of alcohol in his system. He would possibly take responsibility for however many hundreds of souls were on that plane. Who would want to fly on a plane knowing the guy at the controls had been on the lash the night before and hadnt allowed enough time for the alcohol to clear his system?

The copilot knew the rules and played fast and loose with them. He needs his arse kicking.
teaabe at 02:48 AM JST - 24th October

i wouldn't want to see him do the rotation on takeoff. he'd probably miss calling out V1, the critical juncture where there's no runway left to break, spoil, and reverse thrust, and takeoff is a must. the problem is, how many more pilots do this under the radar? how bad is it really? with very heavy air traffic on short haul flights, this guy could have killed a lot of people.
PepinGalarga at 03:48 AM JST - 24th October

we need an update on this story. Did they make it to their destination alive and in one piece???
MeanRingo at 04:41 AM JST - 24th October

OVER reactions. Come on, .3 is NOT going to give you a hangover. If you can drive with that much in some countries, it sure as hell isn't going to impair you from operating heavy machinery 12 hours later. It is really insignificant. The delay and the lie are the problems here. It's not like he was seeing pink elephants crawling through the cabin, and if he was, they were probably just some cutesy wutesy little phone accessory carried by Japanese business men to show their manliness. And where the hell do you find a jar of beer anyway?
maryhinge at 06:57 AM JST - 24th October

A prime Skymark recruit.
techall at 11:31 AM JST - 24th October

If a pilot is caught "drunk flying" are all the passengers in the plane subject to a 5 million yen fine like passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver?