Drunken Pilot – Punishment Too Lenient

By Sandrea:-MY OPINION

There is an expectation that when one purchase an airline ticket and decide to travel whether it is for business or pleasure we do so in the knowledge that the individuals that are going to be piloting the airline are sober have their wits about them that in case of an emergency they are able to respond in a timely manner and their reaction are not hampered by either alcohol or other drugs.

If the report in the Daily Mail is accurate, and I have no doubt that it is I find it unacceptable that the courts decide to give the Delta Airline pilot such a slap on the wrist for being drunk and turn up to pilot a transatlantic flight.  He should be given a lengthy sentence to demonstrate to others that the courts take his behaviour seriously and deter anyone else who thinks that it is ok to get drunk and decide to pilot an aircraft.

I would imagine the great majority of airline pilot would never put themselves or their passengers at risk by being drunk, and the minority of individuals that do so makes it difficult for the travelling public to trust the people who are going to pilot the aircraft that they are on.

Every time that we get on an aircraft we are putting our lives the lives of our children and our families into the hands of the pilot.  We trust them to takes us safely to our destination and we believe that they are going to do so with dignity and a healthy respect of the trust that we put in them.  This incident is going to make many people think twice about their pilot and whether the individual that is in the cockpit holding their lives in their hands is competent to do so or his he in a drunken stupor.

I am very annoyed at the sentence that has been given to this pilot; I believe that it is inappropriate for his gross behaviour and the judge pointing out “what you were employed to do, were potentially catastrophic” makes he even angrier, because he recognise that this pilot was in grave dereliction of his duty which make the six months sentence a mere slap on the wrist.

In my opinion, I hope that Delta airlines sacked this individual; in fact he should never be allowed to pilot any other passenger aircraft.  To destroyed twenty years experience is disgraceful and what he has done is single-handedly call into to question the ability and integrity of every pilot and for that he should be sent to prison for a longer period of time.

The public will be alarmed and rightly so, this is not a bus driver who if passengers believe him to be driving erratic can press the bell and get off the bus, once you are in the air you have to stay there until you arrive at your destination.

The courts having decided those six months was what the crime warrant, I hope he will use this time to reflect on his actions and realise that not only has he destroyed his career, but he has put a stain on his colleagues.

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