- The pilot was so drunk he couldn’t fly.
- Police were called to the hotel when the pilot became upset.
- A replacement pilot could not be found in time for the morning departure.
An Air Japan flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled after the pilot allegedly became “too drunk to fly” and a replacement could not be found in time for the next morning’s departure.
The pilot, whose name was not identified, became highly intoxicated after dining with crew members in Dallas last Tuesday.
The night’s festivities continued in the hotel lounge, where the pilot continued drinking and continued to his hotel room.
Around 2 a.m., a hotel employee asked the group to remain silent, but the pilot’s disorderly conduct prompted hotel staff to call the police.
When police arrived, the pilot was questioned and then given a stern warning, Japanese Daily News The Mainichi reported. Business Insider.
An Air Japan plane photographed taking off from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, in January.
An aerial view of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and the location where the Air Japan flight was supposed to depart on its way to Tokyo.
The plane was scheduled to take off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for Tokyo last Wednesday around 11:05 a.m., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
But after the incident the flight was cancelled. It is not clear if the pilot was sanctioned.
The airline determined that the pilot was unfit to fly after conducting an assessment of his physical and mental well-being.
The 157 passengers who were supposed to be on the flight were placed on alternative flights, according to The Mainchi.
Drunk and disorderly pilot behavior is just the latest in a series of safety problems facing the airline industry, from terrifying mid-air mechanical mishaps to freak accidents and emergency landings.
Parking vans waiting for arriving passengers at DFW International Airport in Dallas
Recently, a Boeing airplane was forced to land due to hydraulic fluid ejecting from the landing gear area. The technical failure, which is now being investigated, also occurred in the air on a United flight.
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration also criticized Boeing for focusing on “production” instead of “safety and quality.” Pictured: A missing panel on a 25-year-old Boeing 737-824
On Friday, a Boeing plane was forced to make an emergency landing in New York after an emergency slide fell off the plane.
Delta flight 520 bound for Los Angeles was diverted to JFK airport around 8:30 a.m. The plane had been traveling for an hour when the strange incident activated an emergency alarm.
In January, Boeing went into crisis mode after a door plug panel exploded on a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight.
In another incident, a Boeing plane was forced to land so that hydraulic fluid was ejected from the landing gear area.
The incident was under investigation, but the technical failure also occurred in the air on a United flight.
Boeing took another hit after FAA Michael Whitaker criticized the manufacturer for focusing on “production” instead of “safety and quality.”
His visit to Boeing facilities came after a series of terrifying incidents aboard the company’s planes in recent months.
The incidents included a wheel falling off a plane bound for Osaka in early March and a panel falling off a plane shortly after taking off from San Francisco that same month.
The embattled plane maker has also been put in the spotlight on Capitol Hill following testimony from whistleblowers who said they were met with death threats when they tried to raise safety concerns with their superiors.
Quality engineer Sam Salehpour also told Congress that some sections of the 787 Dreamliner planes have not been properly secured.
Boeing announced a safety review for the cabins of its 787s after a LATAM flight flying from Sydney to Auckland suffered a terrifying crash after a flight attendant is believed to have accidentally pressed the switch in the pilot’s seat and jammed it against the controls of the plane.