Sky-high drunk aborts take-off

[NickN]

From Todays Telegraph

Sky-high drunk aborts take-off

By Laurel-Lee Roderick

May 07, 2008 12:00am

A SURLY airline passenger with a blood-alcohol level so high it could have killed him forced a pilot to abort a take-off after getting unruly with the crew.

Cairns fisherman James Carter had a blood-alcohol reading above 0.4 when Australian Federal Police removed him from a QantasLink flight from the north Queensland tourist hotspot to Darwin on Friday night.

A level of 0.4 or above is often fatal.

The Cairns Post reports the 31-year-old, who planned to move to Darwin, had drunk 10 cans of beer after breaking up with his pregnant girlfriend earlier that day.

The unruly passenger boarded flight QF1874 at 9pm but refused to take his seat.

The captain was forced to stop the plane as it taxied down the runway for a scheduled 9.10pm take-off and police were called.

Flight attendants tried in vain to get the troublesome passenger to get off the plane.

He co-operated with police initially but then resumed arguing and swearing.

The flight was delayed nearly 25 minutes by the drama.

Yesterday, Carter pleaded guilty to a federal offence of threatening behaviour on an aircraft.

Commonwealth prosecutor Jane Bentley said Carter's actions "caused alarm to other passengers on the plane and the flight crew".

The offence carries a maximum fine of $5500 and Ms Bentley said the incident was particularly serious because it was on an aircraft, not in the terminal.

Carter was convicted and fined $750.

"I'm very apologetic, very embarrassed," he said outside court.

Magistrate Trevor Black said it was a horrendous reading and translated into "completely abhorrent and foolish behaviour".

He said passengers were inconvenienced and could have missed connecting flights.

[Bernie P]

Originally Posted by NickN

From Todays Telegraph

How did he get on in the FIRST place???

Don't check-in or boarding agents 'screen out' this sort of thing, or is that just with Southwest (Airport USA) in the States??

[Brenden S]

Well he could have been a good boy when he checked in. Then drank some more while waiting.

[Bernie P]

Originally Posted by Brenden S

Well he could have been a good boy when he checked in. Then drank some more while waiting.

So true... But to be that drunk, and NOT be noticed by the agents at the gate is beyond me!!

No offence to QF staff either...

[Greg McDonald]

What p****s me off is that the available fine was $5500, this was supposedly "particularly serious because it was on an aircraft, not in the terminal." and they STILL only fined this clown $750. What does it take to get a DECENT fine?

[Andrew P]

Originally Posted by Greg McDonald

What pi55es me off is that the available fine was $5500, this was supposedly "particularly serious because it was on an aircraft, not in the terminal." and they STILL only fined this clown $750. What does it take to get a DECENT fine?

and what is a decent fine IYHO

you must be rich if you feel $5500 is just petty cash

Banjo

[Greg McDonald]

Read the post properly Banjo. He was only fined $750 when the possible maximum was $5500. I'm saying that if this was a serious episode, why wasn't he fined an amount much closer to the maximum allowable?

[Hugh Jarse]

This kind of thing happens all the time (drunks being allowed to board). The gate staff are generally gutless and just turn a blind eye in the hope they'll go away, or the crew will sort it out on the aircraft!

It is very time consuming and stressful for all concerned to deny boarding or offload a PAX once they're on or near the aircraft. This has happened to me on several occasions and always results in a delay and inconvenience for our other customers.

This kind of attitude by gate staff is unacceptable. They should have thrown the book at both the drunk AND the person/s responsible for letting him through.

[Marty H]

In my experience and what I have seen, gate staff are not too lazy at all the remove pax from flights that are unfit to fly, whether they are under the influence of alcohol or unwell. I was flying to ADL about a month ago and a pax was clearly unwell to fly the gate staff spoke to the cabin crew they were not happy to carry the pax and they were removed from the flight, as it was clear to the gate staff that the pax was unwell at the boarding gate.