- The pilot was reportedly so drunk that he could no longer fly
- Police were called to the hotel when the pilot became disorderly
- A replacement pilot could not be found in time for morning departure
An Air Japan flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled after the pilot was reportedly “too drunk to fly,” and a replacement could not be found in time for the next morning’s departure.
The pilot, who was not named, became heavily intoxicated after dining with crew members in Dallas last Tuesday.
The night’s festivities continued in the hotel lounge, where the pilot continued to drink and carry on in his hotel room.
Around 2 a.m., a hotel employee asked the group to be quiet, but the pilot’s disorderly behavior prompted the hotel employee to call the police.
When police arrived, the pilot was interrogated and subsequently given a stern warning, Japanese Daily News, The Mainichi reports Business insider.
An Air Japan plane 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 scheduled to depart on its way to Tokyo
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, the plane was scheduled to depart from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for Tokyo last Wednesday around 11:05 a.m.
But after the incident the flight was cancelled. It is unclear whether the pilot received any punishment.
The airline determined 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.
The pilot’s drunken and disorderly behavior is just the latest in a series of safety problems facing the aviation industry, from terrifying mid-air mechanical mishaps to freak accidents and emergency landings.
Shuttle parking vans await passengers arriving at DFW International Airport in Dallas
A Boeing plane was recently forced to land due to hydraulic fluid leaking from the landing gear. The technical glitch, now under investigation, also occurred mid-air on a United flight
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration has also blasted Boeing for focusing on “production” rather than “safety and quality.” Pictured: a missing panel from a 25-year-old Boeing 737-824
On Friday, a Boeing plane had 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 en route for an hour when the bizarre incident triggered an emergency alarm.
In January, Boeing went into crisis mode after a door plug panel blew off a 737 Max jet during an Alaska Airlines flight.
In another incident, a Boeing plane was forced to land due to hydraulic fluid leaking from the landing gear.
The incident was investigated, but the technical malfunction also occurred in the air of a United flight.
Boeing was dealt another blow after FAA Michael Whitaker criticized the manufacturer for focusing on “production” rather than “safety and quality.”
His visit to Boeing facilities came after a series of terrifying incidents aboard the company’s planes in recent months.
Incidents included a wheel falling off an Osaka-bound plane in early March and a panel blowing off a plane shortly after it took off from San Francisco later that same month.
The beleaguered aircraft maker has also been thrust into the spotlight on Capitol Hill following testimony from whistleblowers who said they received death threats when they tried to report safety concerns to their superiors.
Quality engineer Sam Salehpour also told Congress that parts of the 787 Dreamliner jets are not properly secured.
Boeing announced a safety audit for the cockpits of its 787s after a LATAM flight from Sydney to Auckland took a terrifying dive after it was thought a flight attendant had accidentally pressed the switch on the pilot’s seat, hitting it against the plane’s controls had clamped.