Delta Airlines Flight 47 Canceled Over Drunk Co-Pilot
It seems like we almost had another Denzel Washington story come to life. The Dutch authorities have stopped Delta Airlines Flight 47 from taking off from Amsterdam Schiphol airport. The Boeing 767-400 was supposed to take off at 9:15 AM and land in New York at 10:00 AM. However, at first, Dutch authorities delayed the flight as the Amsterdam Schiphol workers pulled the first officer aside as customers boarded the plane. At 9:51 AM, Delta Airlines (DAL) canceled the flight to New York. Officials were worried that the co-pilot was too intoxicated to operate the Delta Airlines Flight 47. After the pilot took the breathalyzer test, the Dutch police had to detain the first officer, as he was over the legal limit to operate an aircraft. The Dutch police fined the 51-year old pilot €3.400 Euros, which equals to about $3,850 USD. The Dutch media have reported that the first officer was three times over the legal to operate an aircraft. To illustrate, most airlines do not allow any crew members to drink 10 hours before they have to operate a flight. For example, in the United States, the legal limit is 0.04%. On the other hand, a lot of countries have a strict no tolerance rule. Thus, you cannot have any alcohol in your blood before your flight. NL Times has confirmed that the pilot in question “had 270 micrograms of alcohol per liter of breath.”
Mechanical issues
Anyhow, Delta canceled the flight at first because of mechanical issues. Later on, Delta changed the reason and confirmed it was a crew duty issue. Albeit the airline did not specify that it was because of the fact that one of their pilots was too intoxicated to operate the flight. Delta Airlines (DAL) provided the passengers on the Delta Flight 47 with alternative tickets to New York with “Delta’s apologies for the inconvenience.” So no, we won’t have a sequel to the movie “Flight”. Although a better candidate would be the Sunwing Airlines pilot who managed to pass out drunk mid-air while in flight. Source
