Transcription
You're watching a Delta pilot in uniform being arrested in Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. It's about noon on a Tuesday. And before we get into why he got arrested and the entire interrogation process, before I ask you any questions, you kind of just want to tell me kind of what's been going on.
We first need to talk about how all the alarm bells got sounded this Tuesday morning in July. Pilots inside the airport terminal environment typically interact with the airport police one time as they enter the airport, and that is known as Known Crew Member. We call it KCM, which is where we start. Here's the pilot going through KCM. He hands what I think is his driver's license, and then he scans his KCM barcode, which we usually keep right behind our badge, and then he has to show his badge to the TSA agent. What happens when you scan your barcode is on their screen, it pops up your picture, and then if you're approved or not. So, let's say you're on a leave of absence from your airline. You don't have access to KCM anymore. So, it will say "unapproved." I know that because it happened. I did a training, and during that training, for some reason, I got categorized on a leave of absence, and I tried to go through, and they were like, "You're not approved. Is there something going on with your airline?" I was like, "I don't, I don't think so." So, I end up calling my chief pilot, and he's like, "Oh, crap." And they had to go fix it. But that's what happens. You have to be approved and in the system. And so there's a whole background check and all this stuff that allows you to be in the system. So when you scan that barcode, it shows up there.
The other thing that happens now, which wasn't really happening at this time, is it decides when you get a random security check. So it will pop up, and there will be like "random," and now you got to go through the regular passenger security line that you see. Sometimes you'll see a random pilot or flight attendant going through that line. And usually, what that is, is because they went through the KCM, they got random, and then they go through there. The old system used to be they would just like check off a box, and then when they get like every 10th person, they would just send them over there. Now it's system-generated. Although, for me, it seems like 50% of the time I get random, so it doesn't seem that random. But anyways, that's how it works right now. Barcode scan, picture. You're either allowed to go in or you're not. And it looks like everything went well. He leaves the TSA agent, goes right on up the stairs, and the flight attendants behind him. It doesn't seem like there was any issues at this checkpoint.
From that point, you either head to your crew room, which a lot of times is behind the security area, so that way, if you're sitting on reserve and they need you, you can quickly get to your gate. You already have everything already approved through security, or you're going to head to your gate. Depends on what kind of time frame you're on. If you're showing up to the airport and you're 45 minutes before departure, let's say, you might go straight to your gate. In this case, the pilot passes security. He's seen here making his way to the gate. He's just starting his first flight of the pattern, meaning he's coming from home and not a layover. Minneapolis is his home base airport, so he's very familiar with it, but he comes across something that is very unusual, and it's this random security checkpoint. You can see the pilot hesitate for a minute as he approaches before going and talking to one of the agents, who I'm guessing will confirm that everyone's bag needs to be looked into, and that's where things start to go downhill for this pilot.
According to one of the agents that was in this area, this is how they describe the pilot's appearance: "Pilot. He looked a little disheveled, like his, he had the white with the epaulets, but it was in dire need of an ironing. It, you know, it was kind of a shabby look."
Now, I understand the pilot's hesitation here because he's at his home airport, very familiar with it. If this was a place that he'd never been to, probably would have been like, "Okay, this is what we're doing here at this airport." You kind of just go with the flow. But being at his home airport, he's very familiar. He's probably been there for years and going in and out of that airport. And so the hesitation, I understand, and then going over to the agent and going like, "Is that something that I have to do, or is that just a passenger thing?" So I understand that hesitation, but his actions after this raise some alarm bells. After the pilot walks away from the inspection area, the supervisor reports this suspicious behavior to the police, who start looking for him and trying to figure out where he went. The pilot makes his very long way through the terminal. So where is he going? After going down the escalator and far from the terminal that he was trying to make his way to, he walks in here, the bathroom. So, why walk so far away from the area that you're trying to go to when it appears that there is a bathroom right by your checkpoint? I don't know Minneapolis very well. I've only been there a few times, but this sign right here appears to be a bathroom sign of sorts. And even if that sign isn't for a men's bathroom, usually they're all pretty close together. So, why leave and walk so far away from the direction you're trying to go? Unless you were trying to do something you didn't want anyone to see, especially these guys.
As he was approaching this gate, he may have noticed these guys right here who looked like some type of law enforcement that are standing right by the bathroom. Of course, there are no bathroom cameras, so we can't be for sure exactly what he was doing in there, but according to police records, he was in there for 27 seconds. As he walked back out and went to the security checkpoint that he had originally walked away from, and while he was there, the police came over to ask him, "What were you doing? Where did you go?" The pilot says he went into the crew room, which is an area that the pilots usually hang out in before our flights. But when pilots call the eye in the sky, they confirm that he actually walked into this bathroom. Like a good police officer, they're thinking, "Why would he lie about going to a crew room when he went to the bathroom?" So, they went into the bathroom to see if there was anything suspicious in there.
Now, meanwhile, while the police are in this bathroom looking through everything, the pilot and one of the flight attendants head down the jet bridge. It's common on day one of your pattern that everybody's coming in staggered because people are coming from home or they're coming from their wherever they're staying, a hotel, whatever it is, and they're starting their trip. Unlike what you might be used to seeing where there's a group of pilots and flight attendants that are moving together, that's usually coming off of a layover. But in the very first start of your pattern, since everybody's scattered about, you'll have a time that you need to be there at the plane, but everyone's scattered and coming in within five, 10, 15 minutes of that time. Then you'll meet up there and you'll start your trip. So them going down there is totally normal. This pilot would start doing their pre-flight duties like doing a walk-around and setting up and pre-flighting the aircraft. Meanwhile, the police are here in the bathroom and they found something hidden in the trash, which caused them to be even more suspicious of this pilot. And they have to move quickly because this Delta aircraft is already starting to board. If it pushes back and takes off, there's really not much the police can do until the plane lands.
The police officers are quickly dispatched over to the gate. And this is when the gate agent knows it's going to be a problem because it's not just one, not two, but at least three different officers, including this guy who's a detective. And you're going to see why he's relevant later in this video. Now, anybody who's flown before, when they walk on the plane, a lot of times, well, if they're like me, they would look to their left and look into the flight deck and go, "Man, that's pretty small up there." So, you know that it's not a lot of space, especially to have because the captain's already up there. This guy's already shown up. So, you have two pilots up there. So, it's already kind of small. And now you've had three different potentially police officers, possibly a force that have shown up there onto the flight deck. So, you're not going to be able to comfortably fit everybody up there. And what's interesting is this detective, while he's up there talking with them, people are getting onto the aircraft. And the officer, the detective, offers for this pilot to call in sick, which he says, "No, no, I feel fine. I want to go do the flight." Either way, once it becomes obvious that this plane is definitely not going anywhere, passengers are quickly told to get back off of the jet bridge and head back up to the gate where they're going to wait.
After they finished deplaning, you see the pilot here in handcuffs being removed from the plane. But you'll notice that he isn't wearing the same hat that he had on earlier. He's wearing a ball cap, which to me is a bit strange. That means that the police officer or the detective or whoever was arresting them gave him the courtesy of putting something on, I guess, to hide his face. But my thought would be, if that is what you're trying to do, is trying to show up low-key, would to be taking off your uniform shirt. I am used to, well, I have seen it many times, people walking through the airport with police in handcuffs. Usually they have a sweater or something over their hands trying to hide it, but it's, it's pretty apparent who's who. I, I've seen senators before that are walking through the airport. Uh, Ran Paul one time I saw him coming into Cincinnati, and it's, it catches your eye because you'll see a person and two or three police officers, which is, he, by the way, that senator wasn't being arrested. Even saying it catches my eye when I see somebody with police officers around them. Right? So if I was trying to, let's say I got arrested in this situation and I was trying to be really low-key about it, the hat makes sense, but I would also just take off my uniform shirt and put on a regular shirt. That would attract a lot less attention. If I'm walking through as a passenger or a normal person and I see a pilot with handcuffs, the baseball hat isn't going to be like, "Oh, everything's normal here." It would draw even more attention than otherwise.
So about three hours after all this started, where he showed up to the gate, he's taken back here to the police station for a breathalyzer and a blood test, which is common. I've been randomed before, and that means they can either drug test you, and they can do a, a urine test, we call it a piss test, or you can be breathalyzed, meaning you blow into the tube. It can be both. I, I've had it just random. Throughout the years, it happens. So that's common. The other thing is, if you were ever involved in an incident, let's say you're flying and something major breaks on your plane, there's a Mayday, let's say you're having a, a major engine malfunction or a landing gear malfunction, even though it has literally nothing to do with you as a crew, when you land, you better expect that you're going to be breathalyzed, and you're going to get your blood taken. They're going to take your blood so that way there's no question about it. They're going to look for drugs. They're going to look for alcohol. They're going to look for everything. Now, if you don't have anything in your system, no big deal, but that is normal. So, just kind of part of what you sign up for when you become a pilot, and they're going to give you the $300 million aircraft to fly a bunch of people on. That's part of the other side of it. You got to be responsible.
Which leads us into the interrogation where it all starts to unravel. "Doing all right?" "Yeah." "All right. So, I read your rights earlier, right? You kind of recall those rights and you still want to talk to me?" "Yeah." "All right. So, do you kind of, just before I ask you any questions, do you kind of just want to tell me kind of what's been going on and just start over?" "Um, yeah, I'll start over." "Okay." "Um, yeah, I knew I had one bag and I didn't, I, I knew that it was legal to bring it through there," "but I guess I was more than anything just embarrassed to have it." "Yeah." "So, I just, I did throw it. I did throw it out. So, I apologize. Um, that's, and that's all that I had in there. I didn't ditch anything else." "Okay. Uh, and then I, I honestly, I don't, I don't know how I still have or possibly had alcohol on my breath yet because I, I did have drinks yesterday afternoon. But" "Okay." "I know it was."
What he's apologizing for is throwing away a bottle of liquor. And I'm not talking about the minis you've flown on first class or you've seen on airplanes or potentially you've seen flight crew. We had these little minis, uh, sometimes on layovers, and they're just one shot. So he's not talking about apologizing about throwing a mini in the trash. He had something a little bit more. According to reports, they found this: an unopened bottle of a 1.75-liter of Phillips vodka. And this isn't just a generic photo of vodka that I pulled off the internet. This is actually the brand that he was drinking. Now, when I saw that, I thought, "Oh, this must be some, I'm not a big drinker, but I thought, this must be some really cool brand of vodka that I've never heard of before." And so, I jumped online and Googled it to see what does it look like. Uh, spoiler alert, they sell it at Target for $14.99, and it comes in a plastic bottle. Anybody knows if your vodka is coming in a plastic bottle, it's basically the absolute cheapest vodka you're going to get, which is going to cause you a terrible headache. But if you're just looking to drink and get drunk, then this will get you there. But the hangover, at least in my experience, is terrible.
"What, what time about did you have your last drink yesterday?" "Um, about six o'clock in the evening." "Okay. And how many did you have?" "Um, well, that was like my last drink. I had, I think I had, I think I had four." "Four?" "Yeah. About four. Yeah." "And what were they?" "Uh, one, I had one beer, and then, uh, three, uh, mixed drinks." "Okay. And how big was the beer?" "Just a can." "Okay." "Can I-" "And what were the mixed drinks?" "Uh, it was vodka." "Okay." "So did you feel any of the effects still today?" "No." "Okay." "No." "No. I'm, I'm blown away." "Okay. And, uh, have you ever flown an aircraft while you felt any effect, effect from alcohol or anything?" "No." "Okay." "No." "Um, so you came through, you went up, sat in the airplane. Where were you kind of when I came up to you? Where were you kind of in your progress? Were you doing your in-flight checks and already completed your in-flight checks or-" "I hadn't even started talking to-" "Okay." "Literally, I actually what I did is I pulled the flight plan up." "Okay."
Remember, this is happening on a Tuesday. He originally told the police that it had been three days since he had drank the last time. So, he's, there are already these multiple lies that are happening. He's lying about going to the crew room, which wasn't true, and they proved that. He's lying about the last time he drank being three days ago, and it's not showing that to be accurate. So, there's a lot of things where there is a reason for them to keep digging. There seems to be something that's being hidden here. What you're about to see here as they get into the explanation of the results from the breathalyzer that he just did.
"And it looked like you guys were getting ready to board. Um, because there's a couple passengers already on. Looks like one needed extra assistance. You guys are getting ready to board, right?" "I don't know. Okay. I'm not really, or I don't really-" "You don't deal with that. Okay." "Um, where are you flying to?" "Uh, San Diego West." "Okay. And I, this was your first flight of the day?" "Yeah." "Where were you going from San Diego? Was that your final, or you were laying over there?" "Okay. 18 hours there." "Okay. Um, how often do you drink before flying? Like, or how often do you drink? Is it often that you have drinks the night before you fly?" "I, I can't say that I do or don't. Okay. Um," "so I guess is it common to have three, four drinks the night before you fly?" "No." "I would, I would say that that's a regular deal." "Okay. So," "so I guess another question then is I guess, um, when you came up to the screening area, yeah, what were you kind of thinking? Because I know obviously you were kind of worried. It was just embarrassment, you said. Was anything else going on?" "No. Did you think that maybe you still had alcohol in your system and that's why you should maybe go back?" "Not at all. No. I, I just really was like, 'Well, this is going to look stupid that, you know, taken out.'" "You know."
This is relevant where they're trying to figure out that there was intent to go fly. There have been cases where pilots will show up and be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It's just, we're, we're human at the end of the day. And they'll say, "Oh, I, I never really intended to fly. I just was walking to the plane and walking around the plane." You know, they might say something like that. So, they're asking and they're trying to prove intent that the intention was for this pilot to actually operate the aircraft by doing pre-flight checks and things like that. It is showing that you have the intention to go fly. So, the detective is trying to figure out, is that the case? Did you intend to go fly the aircraft? That's why he's asking him this. "Had even started talking to Dave." "Okay." "Literally, I actually what I did is I pulled the flight plan up." "Okay."
Now, from a pilot's perspective, if you've seen my vlogs, you've seen all the work that I'm doing before I even get to the aircraft. I'm checking weather. I'm checking alternates. I'm checking fuel. Well, this flight is going from Minneapolis to San Diego in July. Surprise, spoiler alert. It's going to be 80 and sunny. There's really not a lot of homework that you need to do in this short of a flight this type of year going to San Diego in the middle of the day. And even if there is a problem, there's a lot of other airports nearby. You're going to be going past Vegas on your way there. You're going to be going, you're going to be close to Los Angeles. You have so many alternative options when you're doing a domestic flight like this in the middle of summertime going to Southern California. So the, the level of preparation is a lot less than, let's say, when I'm flying. A lot of times I'm going a, a long ways. It could be 10, 12 hours. So, what's the weather like where we're going? What's the weather like on the way there? Do we, what are our backup plans? There's a lot more preparation. Showing up like this, you would have done some preparation, but nothing near what you've seen when I've prepped for my flights. Even now when I do a domestic flight, you know, on a 747, if I'm doing, let's say, Miami to Houston, obviously in the summertime there's going to be some thunderstorms and things like that, but the level of preparation is a lot less intensive because there's a lot more options and there's a lot more backup planes. And when you're going across the ocean, limited on fuel weight and things like that. So, him being kind of nonchalant with like, "Oh, I just downloaded the flight plan," is a, is a little bit strange. Like, you, you, you're boarding the plane, but all you've done is just now download the flight plan. It seems like a little bit more lax than it should be. But I definitely wouldn't expect that he would have done all the preparation that you've seen me do as I get ready to do a long international flight. So, it's a, it's a little bit lax, but not ridiculous.
"I, I just really was like, 'Wow, this is going to look stupid that, you know, taken out.'" "You know."
Now, there's nothing that prohibits him from transporting or flying with alcohol in your bag. I know pilots that have done it. Uh, it's a pretty common thing. A lot of times when you go overseas, you might go over to Europe or South America, and you'll grab a bottle of wine. I, I've done it before, and I drink maybe once every few years. I rarely drink, but I, I'll grab a bottle of wine or something as a gift. So, there's nothing to prohibit you from doing that. I also know pilots that they have a certain whiskey that they like to drink, and so they'll just fly wherever they're going and they'll bring their own whiskey because obviously it's a lot cheaper to bring it with you than go buy it at a, at a bar or at a restaurant. So it's not uncommon, and there's nothing against having an unopened bottle, and in some airlines, having an open bottle. Now, I do have more restrictions because there are certain, uh, places that I fly to that are dry countries, and in the Middle East, there are countries that I go to, and there are countries that we go to where they prohibit you from bringing alcohol inside the country. Many to San Diego, there, there's no reason to do that. So, there's no reason to have that be a problem to have that in there. But, you're about to find out why he's embarrassed about it.
"And then, is there any reason why you're dishonest with us on the flight? Because I asked you numerous times, you know, kind of had you been drinking? When I was asked to drink, you told me Saturday." "Um, I just was embarrassed, you know. Okay. This was, you know, just, just, you know, shame in my li, you know. So, and then, uh, obviously you said you felt okay flying. As you, a couple times, I even gave you the opportunity to leave and get off the aircraft. Um, I told you a couple times that you can go and go home instead of flying before we did the breathalyzer, and you said that you felt okay to fly. So, you, you felt all right?" "I, I mean, appar-, yeah. I mean, apparently I, I did. I mean, I said I'm, I'm really surprised that didn't happen." "So, okay."
Now, this blows my mind. The pilot was given the out of all outs. The detective gave him the option to call in sick. And the thing is, is that every airline pilot, we, as we prep to before we go to the airlines, we go through all these different scenarios. And one of the scenarios that every pilot, every airline pilot, if you know an airline pilot, you ask him this question, his answer is going to be something similar to this because the airlines will often ask this to see kind of what your response is. And it's, "Hey, you're a first officer. We've hired you. You're at the airline here, and, uh, the captain shows up to the plane and he seems drunk. What are you going to do?" They want to see that A, you're going to push back and not let that captain go fly the plane drunk and endanger your lives and all the lives of everybody on there, as well as their aircraft, and violate their whole career. They want to see that. That's so they want to hear what you're going to do about it. Now, there's a bunch of different answers that people give, but one of the very common ones that people say is, "Well, um, this is what they say in the interview." "Well, I would tell the captain, 'Hey, Cap, you don't look real good. Uh, maybe you should call in sick.'" And if the captain, and then they go, "Well, what if the captain refuses to call in sick?" You go, "Cap, if you don't call in sick because you don't look fit to fly at all, I'm going to have to call in to the scheduling or to the chief pilot and tell them that you're sick because I don't feel comfortable with you. You don't look well enough to go fly. You don't seem normal. You don't seem your normal self that you normally do." So, whatever it is, whatever that captain's response is, you always push back. You never let them fly. That's like rule number one. That's everything that you learn. So here, this detective, obviously not knowing about airline interviews and all that stuff, is there in the flight deck. I'm guessing the captain's probably sitting up there as well. And the detective is giving him this option like, "Hey, I gave you the option to call in sick and just kind of like walk away and just pretend this didn't happen." And he was like, "No, I'm good to fly." That blows my mind.
"And you just told the captain, or what did you tell the captain? I think his name is Dave, right?" "Yeah." "What did you tell him when you got on? It was just normal, or did you guys talk about anything when you first got on?" "Uh, we were just talking about, uh, our time off. Um, we were talking about, you know, how many days you're coming off. I said, 'Yeah, like a week off.' He's like, 'Yeah, me too.' And we're talking about our sick policy and the contract talk, you know. So basically just catching up. We've flown together multiple times. So-" "Well, not every, every time, but fairly often you fly with him?" "Uh, this would have been my third or fourth bunch." "Yeah." "Is there anything else for me that you have any questions or anything right now?" "I wish I can all kind of explain everything going forward. But-"
Now, Delta is a huge airline, and Minneapolis is a large base for them. Flying with someone three or four times is a lot. That my airline, Delta, probably has, I don't know, eight times the amount of pilots that my airline has. If I fly with someone three times, it's a lot. Uh, it's a lot of times. I rarely fly with the same person. So, flying three or four different times with someone means you probably have similar, similar seniorities. So, you're bidding similar types of things or similar destinations that you like. So, three or four times, it seems like, wow, that's hardly at all very much, but it is. It's quite a lot. It's quite a lot of flying. So you kind of get the rhythm, and you, you kind of know what everybody's expecting. Everyone has their own nuances. So you're going to feel more comfortable with somebody, and you'll have a little bit more chitchat that will go on after you've flown with them three or four times. So it is kind of a lot.
"Yeah. You can just explain. So basically what's going to happen is you're not going to jail. Okay. So what's going to happen is I'm going to finish up. What you're going to do is you're going to be booked. Um, you are going to be, right now, charge pending charges, pending the blood result test, okay, that you provided for. You're going to be pending charges for, uh, Minnesota Statute 360, which is operating an aircraft under the influence of alcohol. The threshold for an aircraft is 0.04. So, right, 0.04 compared to 0.08 in a regular vehicle, right? Um, there's other commercial vehicle things that are 0.04. Aircraft is one of them. Like I said, your preliminary breath sample was a 0.063, or sorry, 0.065. 0.065, just so you know. Um, so that's where we're going to go. You're going to be booked. Just, uh, fingerprints, photographs, and then you'll be released. It sounds like, uh, um, your chief pilot, I don't know if familiar with the arm, wants to come pick you up and give you a ride. That's up to you, obviously, but so they, I don't know if they were obviously made aware of the situation. Um, that's up to you how you want to get home. I'm not going to recommend you drive just because of the whole situation. Um, so he wanted to come pick you up. However you want to get home, that's up to you. Um, and then you go from there. What'll happen is once your blood test results come back in, what's the time frame?" "I would, I can't say for sure. It depends on their caseload, probably by a month. So it is going to be a while. Yeah. That's all up to the BCA or county where the blood results get sent out to and get tested at a lab." "Month." "So it's a while." "Okay." "Yeah. Um, fortunately, it's not like a breath test or anything where it's instant and we know and we can chart right away. So, while we're waiting for those, what's going to happen is, uh, most likely since it is involving aircraft, um, kind of on the job, it'll be likely referred to the US Attorney's office, and they'll charge it out. If they don't want to charge it out for whatever reason or decline, then it'll come back locally. So, basically, what'll happen is somebody will be in touch with you once we get those results back and let you know and I'll let you know what charges are going to come and things like that. Okay? So, are there any questions there?" "I don't think so." "Okay. So, what we'll do is I'll, if you want to wait in here, I'll have somebody come book you. You can do that. It'll probably take 15 minutes, not too long, and then you'll be good to go. All your possessions and bags are right here, and I'll give you those. I think we have your phone as well, right?" "I think your bag. So, yeah, I'll be right back to send everybody. Okay." "Yeah. And then I don't care one way or another, but you guys do have my badge." "Your pilot's badge." "My pilot badge." "Yeah, I'll give that back. I, I have no reason to keep that right now. That's between you, your airline, and the FAA, I guess. So, yeah, I'm giving everything we took from you back. I'm not seizing anything from you."
It's interesting that he's really concerned about his crew badge. And that's because that's one of the few things that is technically your airline's property. It's not something that you own. They have the rights to it. If you ever get fired or quit, that's something they're going to want back. And you can get in a lot of trouble for losing a crew badge because you could have fraud or all kinds of different things. So it is a big deal losing that. So it is interesting that he's very focused on getting that back. But I would think that's kind of the least of his overall concerns right now.
Well, the lab report came back, and the pilot's blood sample was determined that he had an alcohol concentration of 0.027 at 11:10 p.m. They determined that at the time the pilot was on the flight deck, that his blood alcohol content was somewhere between 0.04 and 0.08, which the detective had already talked about, is way past the legal limit. According to the court records, he served one weekend in jail, and the rest of the time was under home detention. Then he was placed on probation, which included alcohol treatment. He pleaded guilty in court to attempting to operate an aircraft under the influence of alcohol.
Now, I have personally known people who have had this happen where they were caught either with drugs or alcohol in their system while they're flying. I've personally talked to them about it. Obviously, it's a, it's a sensitive subject. People are embarrassed about it, but I'm just a nosy person, so I, I would ask them about it. And essentially, I can tell you already what's going to happen with this pilot. They're going to lose all their ratings. So, the FAA was going to remove all of their licenses. But what they can't remove is your experience, your ability of flying, your, your skills. They can't obviously take that away. So, if this pilot chooses that he wants to go back into aviation, which is typically what pilots do, is they're going to go back and just have to retake the exams. They sell the hours, so they just go retake all their different exams, which is kind of a mess, but you go retake those different exams. You pass the different check rides that you need to pass, and now you're qualified to go reapply to different airlines. Lucky for this pilot, this happened in 2019. And in 2021 and 2022, there was an unprecedented boom in air travel demand, which means they needed pilots. After he would complete all that training, the probationary period and everything, that would allow him the opportunity to go apply to different airlines. And when airlines are really short, and they're going to take people who have the most experience that they can get to quickly pass training.
Now, let's say he was qualified on, let's say, an Airbus A320. Let's say that's what he was flying at Delta. If he was current and qualified and has thousands of hours doing that, that is something that the airline, if they have that aircraft, know that he's going to be able to safely fly. He's also going to be put into a program we call the HIMS program, which stands for Human Intervention Motivation Study. Now, the really sad part about this is that if the day before that pilot had called to his airline and said, called the chief pilot and said, "Hey, Chief, listen, man, I'm, I'm having a hard time." Uh, and I'm not saying that this was the case for this particular pilot, but if he'd called and said, "I'm having a hard time stopping drinking." And, uh, I, I, I don't know what I, I can't stop, and I'm, I'm getting drunk every night before flying. And again, I'm not saying that this is the pilot, but if that pilot had called his chief to say that and said he had an issue with even with drugs, I have heard about it. Airlines, I've seen go way above and beyond what I would even think is reasonable in taking care of their crew, sending them to rehab, keeping them on a salary, sending them out to rehab to get everything back and fixed. By them taking that action and going there, the airlines will typically go above and beyond to help you remedy whatever it is to help you get back on a, on a good path. You will be in this HIMS program, and there is no HERS program, but you'll be on the HIMS program for the rest of your career. No, no doubt you, that's just, you get to keep your job. Uh, everything's okay as long as you follow the steps inside that HIMS program, you're, you're fine. However, if you show up to your plane and in this particular case where you've shown up under the effects of drugs and alcohol, the airlines don't really have a choice. They have to fire you. There's so much liability for them, and it shows poor judgment. And I've always talked about one of the big key things about being a pilot is is making good judgment. Some of the, I was always told, some of the best captains are going to maybe not be the best pilots, but they make good judgment, and they bring everybody together, and they run a good crew. They may not be the best, we call it stick and rudder guy, but they make good judgment. This is obviously poor judgment, and nobody's going to deny that.
They even have websites specifically for pilots on the HIMS program so pilots can not throw away their career or their life. They can get back on track. And if you're lucky, maybe your airline will send you to a really cool rehabilitation center for 30 days. And I mean, this video honestly wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention that a lot of rehab facilities have breakfast included at no charge. So, you'd have like 30 days of free breakfast. Just throwing it out there. Just something to mention. I look forward to hearing from you. Until then, keep the blue side up.