On Wednesday April 24th, Japan Airlines decided to cancel flight JL11 from Dallas Fort Worth to Tokyo Haneda after its 49-year-old pilot drank too much alcohol at the hotel and was determined unfit to fly. The airline cited the need to assess the pilot’s physical and mental condition but couldn’t find a replacement pilot for the scheduled departure.
The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 11:05 am on Wednesday, had more than 150 passengers, most of whom were transferred to an American Airlines flight.
According to the airline, the pilot arrived in Dallas on Monday, then he drank alcohol with other crew members at a restaurant from around 6:00 pm and continued drinking after returning to the hotel. The man had close to 190mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, as reported by Simple Flying magazine. This is significantly higher than the 20mg figure, which is the legal limit for pilots.
Staff at the hotel gave him a warning because several guests had complained about loud noises coming from the pilot’s room. At that time, he stopped drinking. The hotel staff, however, was forced to call the police at around 2 am on Tuesday as the man would not stop shouting.
The pilot did not violate JAL’s regulations against drinking alcohol within 12 hours of boarding, as reported by Japan times. The airline decided nonetheless to cancel the flight because of the need to check the physical and mental conditions of the pilot. A replacement had to be found in short notice.
In a statement, JAL apologized for the inconvenience caused by the crew member’s inappropriate behavior. The pilot was quoted as saying that he did not notice he was drunk. The aircraft returned to Tokyo Haneda without passengers the next day as flight JL11D.
