Pilots sacked from a big airline might reappear on the flight deck working for a lesser-known charter or freight company. The new law does not necessarily stop that happening, said Robert Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, a charitably funded watchdog.”It is clearly not satisfactory to expect the CAA to hear of such incidents through the media or by chance. The travelling public has a right to know justice will be followed through a complete process. I hope Parliament will look again at the issue to ensure that the law is adequate for these, albeit rare, cases.”At the weekend, a Virgin Atlantic pilot was arrested in Washington DC while preparing to fly a jumbo jet to Britain with 383 passengers after he had been allegedly drinking.Captain Richard Harwell, 55, an American who lives with his family in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, was due to appear at a bail hearing yesterday to be formally accused of the offence He faces a jail sentence of up to five years if convicted. Only the CAA has the power to stop a pilot flying by withdrawing medical certification.Industry sources confirmed yesterday that flight crew dismissed for drinking before reporting for duty, were often able to find employment elsewhere “within weeks”.
And he believed that pilots would eventually accept random testing, rather than have it foisted upon them.. Airline pilots caught be drunk on duty may be able to exploit a loophole in new legislation and keep flying. Although a Transport Safety Act, to come into force next year, gives police the power to breathalyse flight crew and gives courts the power to fine or imprison, it fails to provide a mechanism for withdrawing a pilot’s licence. In the past six years, only four BA pilots have been dismissed, as well as the two in Oslo who resigned. Virgin said the weekend incident was the only one of its kind in 20 years of flying.Jamie Bowden, who worked for BA for 20 years, latterly as a manager at various airports, said he believed the “bottle to throttle” rules were largely observed.On the shorter European routes, with a late-night arrival followed by an early morning departure, he said the timing did not allow for drinking. Only about two or three lose their licences, out of about 10,000 British pilots. Drinking is a way of life at BA; it’s part of the culture.”About 12 to 15 pilots each year are investigated for alcohol abuse, because they have been convicted of drink-driving or their employers have registered concern.
Yet, just a few weeks ago, a BA pilot and a first officer both resigned after allegedly consuming alcohol before take-off from Oslo. Four years ago, an embarrassed British Airways was forced to sack two of its pilots after they were filmed by Channel 4 Television indulging in heavy drinking bouts only hours before flying.
As public confidence in its pilots wavered, the airline launched an inquiry and vowed to crack down on alcohol abuse among its flight crews. This book does at least demonstrate the extent of that problem. The reviewer is professor of peace studies at Bradford University. Others may have to remind us that 96 per cent of the world’s people are not American, and that failing to understand their world is self-defeating. That this may well make matters worse is impossible to accept, as the current policies allow for no alternative.Allies has its real value in its lucid and hugely readable understanding of the Bush/Blair outlook.
Similarly, Allies makes little mention of the oil motive, of the detainees at Guantanamo or the 12,000 civilians killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. It shows a thorough understanding of the White House outlook but seems entirely unable to comprehend the view from the majority world.In this context, Shawcross’s unease is significant, and his call for more resolute action the only response he can offer. Saddam’s Iraq was indeed a brutal dictatorship; few will mourn its passing or his capture. It is true that most arms imports before 1991 came from the French and the Soviets.
