Pilot was eight times over alcohol limit

A British pilot has been jailed for six months after being caught nearly eight times over the alcohol limit for flying. According to a report in the Daily Mail, Royal Brunei Airlines captain Charles Nicholls, 54, was arrested in the cockpit after a security guard noticed alcohol on his breath. The newspaper reports that the captain claimed he drunk four pints of beer the previous evening, but investigations revealed he had also been drinking at lunchtime the previous day. He reportedly said he thought the alcohol would have passed through his system by take-off time, at 9.40am. His barrister is quoted as saying: “He observed the pilots’ mantra of 12 hours from bottle to throttle, but failed to take into account the time it would take for what he had through at lunchtime to work through his system. He did not eat at all that day – he did not suspect he would be over the limit.” The Mail reports that Nicholls’ breath test reading was 69mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood – the limit for pilots is 9mg and the limit for driving a road vehicle is 35mg. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd