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Pilot Charged by Calgary Police


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Much talk about cultures etc in Asia regarding another pilot on another forum (http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/588896-indonesian-citylink-pilot.html)  but you do have to wonder how this pilot got as far as he did before being caught. Pilot charged with being impaired by Calgary police after passing out in cockpit

Sunwing Airlines flight to Cancun had over 100 people on board Saturday morning

CBC News Posted: Dec 31, 2016 12:49 PM MT Last Updated: Dec 31, 2016 1:18 PM MT

Calgary police have charged a pilot for attempting to fly while intoxicated.

Calgary police have charged a pilot for attempting to fly while intoxicated. (iStock)

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Calgary police have charged a pilot after he passed out from intoxication in the cockpit of a plane full of passengers and crew.

According to police, the pilot boarded a Sunwing Airlines plane destined for Cancun, Mexico shortly before 7 a.m. on Dec. 31. 

Crews at the gate and on the plane noticed the pilot was" behaving oddly, before he became unconscious in the cockpit," according to a media release. He was then taken into police custody.

Jacqueline Grossman, a spokesperson for Sunwing, said the company is "appreciative of our crew's diligence in handling this very unfortunate matter."

The company was able to find another captain to helm the flight. 

"We are very apologetic for any upset that this has caused and would like to assure our customers that safety remains our utmost priority," said Grossman by email. 

The name of the pilot will be released once he's seen a justice of the peace. 

He has been charged with having care and control of an aircraft while impaired, and having care and control of an aircraft with a blood alcohol level over .08.

The flight had 99 passengers and six crew members on board, including the pilot.

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Update:

 

Police charge impaired pilot

 
‎Today, ‎December ‎31, ‎2016, ‏‎1 hour ago

The Calgary Police Service has charged a pilot that was found to be impaired prior to an aircraft departure.

Shortly before 7 a.m., on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, a male pilot for Sunwing Airlines boarded an aircraft with flight legs scheduled to Regina and Winnipeg, with a final destination of Cancun, Mexico. The 737 800 Series aircraft had 99 passengers aboard with six flight crew, including the pilot.

Prior to departure, gate crew and crew aboard the flight noticed that the pilot was behaving oddly before he became unconscious in the cockpit. The pilot was escorted from the aircraft at which point he was taken into custody by Calgary police.

Initial tests conducted by police indicate the pilot was severely impaired by alcohol.

The pilot has been charged with the following:

  • Having care and control of an aircraft while impaired
  • Having care and control of an aircraft over .08 (or exceeding 80 mgs of alcohol per 100mL of blood)

His name will be released once he has seen a Justice of the Peace.

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Last day of the year. Last day of the career.

Even if this pilot is having a lot of personal turmoil right now it's very hard to have sympathy for drinking and driving and even more so for drinking and flying. 

Very sad for all involved.

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It's not just like intentionally driving to a location where the police are operating a RIDE program after an evening at the local bar which in itself would call one's sanity into question. It's more akin to deciding to go to that RIDE location and THEN downing a bottle at all times appreciating the fact that by the time you encounter the police, you'll be drunk!

One issue I had watching the Indonesian video with the pilot literally staggering through security.....why didn't they intervene? It gave me comfort knowing that the few incidents in the US and Britain recently were reported by security and/or gate personnel.

 

And now this story from Calgary suggests that a LOT of people encountered this individual on his way to the aircraft and did nothing?

 

That should probably be retracted by me. I'll apologize in advance since we don't know the whole story. The police were obviously alerted to the pilot's condition and the alert could have been a chain of involvement starting much earlier.

And a further thought...until that pilot gets to his/her seat, there is no care and control so adverse publicity notwithstanding, perhaps there is a conscious decision to let the pilot board and then intervene at which point they can lawfully demand the breathalyzer etc etc.

 

Interesting.

 

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I don't know how this pilot made it to the aircraft....In my world, the Capt and FO were together doing preflight and "normally" walked to the aircraft together. 

Surely to goodness the FO would have noticed that his partner if he was so drunk he passed out in the cockpit ....or ...is this another case of a junior FO being intimidated by the "rank" structure ?

 

Pretty sad case

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58 minutes ago, Kip Powick said:

I don't know how this pilot made it to the aircraft....In my world, the Capt and FO were together doing preflight and "normally" walked to the aircraft together. 

Surely to goodness the FO would have noticed that his partner if he was so drunk he passed out in the cockpit ....or ...is this another case of a junior FO being intimidated by the "rank" structure ?

 

Pretty sad case

Was it the Captain who was stopped? Didn't see that in the text. Regardless, a shame on our community.

Thomsonfly: Was this a Canadian crewmember?

Career ending? Not necessarily, but with a criminal conviction, definitely career limiting.

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13 minutes ago, Moon The Loon said:

Was it the Captain who was stopped? Didn't see that in the text. Regardless, a shame on our community.

Thomsonfly: Was this a Canadian crewmember?

Career ending? Not necessarily, but with a criminal conviction, definitely career limiting.

Sunwing Airlines issued the following statement following the arrest:

We can confirm that shortly before 7am local time, the gate agents, first officer and crew of Sunwing flight 595, departing from Calgary and destined for Cancun, determined that the Captain was unfit to fly and reported this accordingly. The Captain was immediately escorted off of the aircraft and the incident is now under investigation with local authorities.  We are very appreciative of our crew’s diligence in handling this very unfortunate matter in accordance with.  We were able to secure a new Captain and are pleased to report that our customers are now en route to their destination after experiencing a minimal delay.  We are very apologetic for any upset that this has caused and would like to assure our customers that safety remains our utmost priority.

 

.................... pilot is a 37-year-old man from Slovakia who is in Canada on a work visa.

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The pilot — a 37-year-old foreign national from Slovakia in Canada on a work visa — was taken into custody.

Police allege Miroslav Gronych passed out drunk in the cockpit right before the plane was scheduled to take off.

Police allege that his blood alcohol level was tested about two hours after the arrest and found to be more than three times the legal limit.

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15 hours ago, blues deville said:

What's wrong with some pilots these days? I would be interested to know the citizenship of both pilots and if not Canadian, what is/was their authorization to work in this country. 

Authority was provided by the CTA in their agreement to allow SunWing to operate their flights south under a wetlease agreement with Thompson. 

Quote

Wet leasing

is a practice in the aviation industry whereby one carrier (the lessee) obtains aircraft and flight crew from another carrier (the lessor) to operate services offered under the former’s licence. The lessor is in operational control of the flights, while the lessee is in commercial control of the flights.

https://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/publication/applying-wet-lease-approval

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Thanks Malcolm. I'm sure all of the T's and I's have been crossed and dotted, but I believe those Canadians travelling south (eventually......what a route to get to CUN) deserved better. And I am unfortunately all to familiar with the term "wetlease'. My last two Canadian employers were experts in this field of operation. In fact, I did the first flight ever operated by Sunwing vacations when Mr. Hunter and family first started up using wet leased ACMI. I watched maintenance put the orange decal on the tail.

Also, at C3 we shared aircaft in a commercial agreement with Air 2000/First Choice basing one 757 in the UK (C-reg'd) at GLA, MAN, LGW, and NCL over several summer seasons. 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Skyservice-Airlines-(Sunwing-Vacations)/Boeing-757-236/711889

http://www.sunwing.ca/newsstory.asp?id=19

http://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=302357

 

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blues, interesting enough that it may have been a Wetlease but info on another forum is identifying the operator as 

Quote

 TVS (Travel Service) aircraft and crew. Nothing to do with Thomson.

Sunwing had a wetlease approval last season including TVS but nothing on the current CTA site showing any current wetlease approval for TVS and Sunwing. Pehaps someone on this forum can clarify.

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5 hours ago, conehead said:

There's a shortage of qualified Canadian pilots, forcing Sunwing to hire foreign workers?

More likely a shortage of aircraft and no option of getting one (for the time needed)  unless it was a "WetLease". 

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Sunwing's aircraft and crew sharing agreements have been discussed at length on this forum (and others) many times and I have no intention of rehashing it here. I'm familiar enough with it to know that the seasonal ebb and flow of their operation would not be sustainable without those agreements. The only thing forcing them to hire 100% Canadians would do is put more Canadian pilots on the street. Oh and by the way, their pilots aren't exactly starving.

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1 hour ago, J.O. said:

The only thing forcing them to hire 100% Canadians would do is put more Canadian pilots on the street.

I'm a little weak on the details but I seem to remember there was some sort of reciprocal hiring agreement where some Canadian pilots would fly in Europe during the summer in exchange for the company being able to hire non-Canadian pilots for the North American winter flying.  Is this what you're referring to?  I also seem to recall that the number of Canadians working in Europe was far less than the number of non-Canadians working here, in other words - we're getting the short end of the deal. 

I realize that doing seasonal charter flying is not ideal - it wouldn't be my first choice but I still think that if Sunwing wanted to hire a full roster of Canadian pilots every Sept they could do it although it obviously wouldn't be the cheapest.

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