Man sues United, claiming alcohol service caused him to beat his wife

by Josh Lew on

A man on a flight from Osaka to San Francisco had too much to drink. Soon after landing, he started beating his wife. After he ended up in police custody and sobered up, he didn’t sheepishly apologize to his wife. Nope. He decided to sue United for serving him too much alcohol, which, he alleges, caused him become violent. The man, Yoichi Shimamoto, was arrested by police at a customs checkpoint after he struck his wife in the face half-a-dozen times. The suit alleges that United’s cabin crew served him wine at 20-minute intervals throughout the flight and that he was so drunk that he could not control himself. Shinamoto and his spouse are seeking $100,000 from the airline as well as more money for pain and suffering.

United responded to the suit, saying “We believe that a lawsuit that suggests that we are somehow responsible for the consequences of a passenger’s physical assault on his own wife is without any merit whatsoever.”

[via Today in the Sky]

Pilot hits house, crashes plane then gets up and drives back home

by Scott Carmichael on

Here is a wacky story from the aviation world; a pilot was flying his Cessna towards an air strip at the private Brookeridge Airport near Chicago, when something went wrong.

During his approach, he clipped a house, crashed into some trees and flipped his plane upon impact.

Luck was clearly temporarily on his side, because he was able to walk away, get into a car and drive back home.

When the police visited him at his residence, he was charged with operating a plane while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. After a brief visit to the hospital, the local Sheriff placed him under arrest and he is currently being held on a $100,000 bond.

Of course, it will be interesting to see how the police plan to prove he was drunk when he crashed as I’m sure it is not impossible that he had a stiff drunk to relax after being in a nasty plane crash!

United Airlines Pilot Arrested at Heathrow on Suspicion of Being Drunk

by Josh Lew on

A 44-year-old United Airlines pilot was arrested at London Heathrow this morning on suspicion of being drunk. The man’s name has not yet been released. He was arrested under Britain’s transportation safety laws, which include a strict limit on the alcohol levels of pilots.

United made a statement about the arrest:

“United Airlines’ alcohol policy is among the strictest in the industry and we have absolutely no tolerance for abuse or violation of this well-established policy. Safety is our No. 1 priority and the pilot has been removed from service while we are co-operating with authorities and conducting a full investigation.”

The man was scheduled to act as first officer on a United flight from Heathrow to San Francisco. He was arrested as the plane sat at the gate in Terminal One. He was bailed out of Heathrow’s police station soon after his arrest but will have to return on January 16th of next year to face an inquiry.

Pilots arrested for public intoxication and “mooning”

by Abha Malpani on

Two Trans States Airline pilots recently got arrested for being drunk and indecent in public. Trans States Airlines is regional feeder airline for United Airlines, US Airways, and American Airlines.

The “mooner” Jeffrey Leon Saltis, and his co-pilot Michael Cody Etzel, were arrested after being belligerent in a Mexican restaurant in Alcoa, where they were refused more alcohol. Both were detained and the airline for which they were to fly was informed; the airline is investigating what happened. There are no further updates yet.

There are two counts on which this story is just pathetic:
1) The two pilots arrested for public intoxication had flights the next morning. I’m assuming that there is some form of breath test for pilots before they fly? The rule is that they cannot consume alcohol 8 hours before flying, but how can that be checked? And, if you had a lot to drink, 8 hours later you’d still be hungover — that’s no better than being drunk. A scary thought, eh?

2) The pilot who pulled his pants down and “mooned” motorists on the highway is 43 years old! I really want to believe that men reach a wonderful level of maturity post 40 (if not post 35), but that notion keeps getting axed.

Oh well. I suppose I could live if the airlines just sorted out the way they dealt with the imbeciles they have in important positions.

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Six too many: Flight attendant fined for being six times over legal alcohol limit

by Anna Brones on

About a month ago I wrote about the flight attendant that showed up too work a little too intoxicated for her own good. The flight which she was scheduled to work on August 3 was headed from Aberdeen, Scotland to Faro, Portugal but was delayed for almost seven hours while a replacement was found for the tipsy flight attendant.

Turns out she was more than just tipsy; she was six times over the legal limit. So this Tuesday the flight attendant was forced to resign from her job as well as tacking on a £400 fine. Thanks to the hearing we have learned some of the juicy details of the incident. According to the Press and Journal the woman had arrived in Aberdeen in the early hours of Saturday August 2. She proceeded to go out with the rest of the crew and went to bed somewhere around breakfast time. Later that day she went into town with four colleagues. Two cocktails and two shared bottles of wine later, the woman said she went to bed around 11pm.

Doesn’t sound all too crazy, but somehow the following morning something was just a little off… to the tune of six times over the legal limit for her job and three times over the legal limit for driving a car. So she was removed from the plane by police officers… But who knows, maybe a tipsy flight attendant would have made the flight just a little more entertaining… except for the fact they they are there for our safety! Don’t drink and fly.