![\"Ewrtanks\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shinyjetsyndrome.com\/sjsisthehunter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Ewrtanks.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThen, as though I wasn\u2019t even flying the airplane, the Captain asks \u201cDo you know why they call it Sewark?\u201d Attempting to maintain a stable approach, yet pay attention to my superior, I simply shrugged my shoulders. \u201cBecause it smells like a sewer!\u201d That is all he had to say to me until we arrived at the gate. The young Captain took off to smoke a cigarette, and left me to set up the cockpit and perform a preflight inspection before the next leg of our trip. \u201cI\u2019ll be back,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Eager to complete my preflight duties, I headed for the jetbridge door and strutted down towards the tarmac. Then it hit me. That first breath of New Jersey air.\u00a0 \u201cOh my God. What is that smell?\u201d I cringed to myself. \u201cThis place reeks like a landfill.\u201d My Captain had been right. This was place was a trashport. The terminal and jetbridges were painted a dark brown and looked depressing. The old tower loomed in the distance. It look like a structure that should have been at a defunct Russian airport. I had been outside all of a few seconds, yet I was ready to leave this hell hole.<\/p>\n My walk around complete and ATC clearance received, all I needed was the rest of our passengers and more importantly, the Captain. He arrived about the midpoint of the boarding process and threw a newspaper down on my lap. \u201cThere ya go!\u201d he exclaimed while taking his seat. At that moment a boarding passenger snuck his head into the cockpit and chuckled \u201cYou guys haven\u2019t been drinking have you?\u201d I could only smile as I did not know how to respond. \u201cNot yet!\u201d chimed the Captain. It would take much more than such a question to rile that regional pilot.<\/p>\n I looked down in my lap and saw what looked to be a tabloid. CROCKPIT<\/strong>. Two America West pilots had been caught intoxicated while on the job. Reading further into the paper, it was revealed these two had one heck of a night racking up a large tab and downing a couple gallons of brew. They had finished up only a few hours before reporting for flight duty. This turned out to be a bad idea.<\/p>\n Flying under the America West banner, I\u2019m sure some of the traveling public would see us in the same manner as they saw these two. Looking back at my career, they were right to.<\/p>\n When I first felt the instinct to fly, I held pilots in the highest esteem. I once told a friend that a pilot must have the best eyesight, acute hearing, and be in athletic shape. After all, they had to pass a stringent medical exam. Pilots were smart. They had to think on their toes and react quickly to any challenges that may come. I was confident in my belief of their superior judgement and morality. Then I became an airline pilot.<\/p>\n Airline pilots like to drink. And they can drink a lot.<\/p>\n My IOE Captain took me to a joint that served food and beer during our overnight. We sat down at the bar and he pulled out a little card from his wallet. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I asked. He replied \u201cI\u2019m on The Tour!\u201d The proud Captain was referring to this establishment\u2019s World Beer Tour. If you drank a number of the various offerings, you would receive a mug or something just as silly. The card had been marked for all the beers he had tried. The Tour continued.<\/p>\n I matched him beer for beer as we easily went into the 12 hour \u201cbottle to throttle\u201d limit set by our company. I was feeling more than a little buzzed as we approached the FAA mandated 8 hour limit, and I had a feeling we weren\u2019t going to stop. I subtly let the Captain know he should save his Captain\u2019s bucks for another time. He grinned and picked up the tab. We staggered back to our hotel to sleep it off.<\/p>\n This trip was becoming a blast, and it certainly foreshadowed what was to come in my piloting career. The trick to the party game would be to never get caught. So where did those America West pilots go wrong?<\/p>\n It turned out one of them got into an argument with the TSA over bringing a Starbucks coffee through the security checkpoint. An agent had smelled alcohol and the rest is history. These guys got in big trouble. Several years later they were tried and convicted. They went to prison. The Co-pilot received 2 and a half years. The Captain got a 5 year sentence. 5 years! Damn.<\/p>\n This event wasn\u2019t the first of its kind. There was a Northwest Airlines crew that got caught in a similar fashion a decade earlier. The main difference is that they flew! The America West guys never got off of the ground. I suppose we have to give the Northwest crew credit for being so good they could do their jobs even if a little tipsy. The Law gave no such credit, and this crew served time in prison.<\/p>\n The crazy thing is that some of the Northwest crew flew in the airlines again.<\/p>\n One of the pilots was hired back at Northwest and eventually became a 747 captain. Maybe it was the bolo tie. Maybe it was because he was Native American. Judge for yourself.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n