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Passenger accuses LIAT pilot of smelling of alcohol
A LIAT flight from Barbados to St Vincent was cancelled Tuesday night after passengers accused the pilot of smelling of alcohol.
Passengers had boarded the already delayed flight when the allegation was made sometime after 10:00 P.M., a passenger told iWitness News.
“When we were already on the plane, a passenger made an accusation. She said she smelled alcohol on the pilot.
The pilot had just passed in the aisle and she said she smelled alcohol on the pilot. And then, the other passengers were like, ‘Yes. We smell alcohol,’” the passenger who spoke to iWitness News said.
The traveller said other passengers then said that that they were not going to travel on a plane where the pilot might have been drinking.
“So she (the passenger) then asked for the pilot to take a breath test. He, of course, refused, and he said if we don’t feel safe travelling with him, he was going to cancel the flight. He, at that point, walked off the plane and went outside,” iWitness News was told.
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8 Responses to “Passenger accuses LIAT pilot of smelling of alcohol”
As the pilot originally claimed, the smell was actually from the alcohol on the "wet-wipe" he had just used - it was still on his hands.
In this case the passenger put 2 and 2 together and got 2,384,375.
There was no valid reason for the pilot to be rude, but after he had explained himself nor was there valid reason for the passenger to continue expounding about a drunk pilot.
IMHO the correct action was taken - for him to continue the flight would have resulted in possible termination, since by the time the airline could impose a urine and blood test there would have been no evidence. And it is unreasonable to expect a professional to spend the rest of his career with unproven allegations in his record.
The delay or cancellation was due to a passenger - the pilots cannot be blamed, just as they cannot be blamed all of the other times management is looking for a reason to dilute their incompetence.
With few exceptions - being human nature - LIALPA Members - LIAT pilots - are professionals with high standards and better-than-average skills who work long and hard adhering to the appropriate laws, regulations and their contract.