Last month, a pilot for Virgin Atlantic was accused by a colleague of being drunk while on the flight deck of an Airbus A340-600. Police boarded the plane and removed the pilot immediately. Since then, the pilot has been cleared of any wrong-doing, because at the time of the incident, he was on a low-carb diet.
Evidently, people on low-carb diets have smelly breath — thanks to ketosis — and the odor is what tipped off the “nosey” airport worker. Virgin released an announcement today claiming, “Subsequent blood tests later confirmed that the amount of alcohol in his blood was the equivalent to that of a non-drinker.”
Moral of the story: just because your pilot smells like booze and there are bottles littering the flight deck, that doesn’t mean he’s been drinking. His weight-loss program may just include some intensive recycling. But still…g’head and ask him if he’s okay to fly.