Thoroughly justified:
(Aeroflot Captain Alexandr Cheplevsky’s) slurred and garbled comments ahead of a flight from Moscow to New York convinced passengers that he was drunk. When he apparently switched from Russian into unintelligible English, fear turned to revolt.
Flight attendants initially ignored passengers’ complaints and threatened to expel them from the Boeing 767 jet unless they stopped “making trouble”. As the rebellion spread, Aeroflot representatives boarded the aircraft to try to calm down the 300 passengers.
One sought to reassure them by announcing that it was “not such a big deal” if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself.
Must have mistaken it for an Airbus…
I’m thinking maybe in addition to screening the cockpit crews a little better, the cabin crew needs to work a little on customer service skills. How many passengers were willing to take the “expulsion” option?
http://img.moonbuggy.org/betty-white/
O.K., this has nothing to do with this posting, but since you like posters so much – and there is a firearm being fired in this one – I thought you’d appreciate it.
Typical media accuracy there… 300 in a 767!? Standing in the aisles, perhaps? The picture with the story makes somewhat more sense but I don’t recall the pax load in a IL-96.
As for drinking and flying, no excuse. Perhaps one of the best motivational talks I attended was by Lyle Prouse, a Northwest Captain. Very inspirational man.
“Must have mistaken it for an Airbus…”
LOL!
This article is highly inacurate. What, a russian, drinking at work? No way, Not possible. Does not happen. They don’t drink that much…
NO, no, ya got all wrong son, ya got it all wrong– his face was flushed only with the joy of the prospect of seeing NYC and maybe defecting to Disneyworld! He was just “auxcited.” Doesn’t EVERYONE have heart palpitations at the thought of living in (or at least visiting) Obama-land?
Maybe he was just attempting a cheap knockoff of Dean Martin…
Palpitations ,Virg? That would be the caffeine.
“Typical media accuracy there… 300 in a 767!?”
According to Janes, “Maximum seating capacity in -300 models is 350 passengers….” so maybe 300 is correct although I wouldn’t be surprised if this meant a cattle-car configuration of narrow seats with little leg-room. But on a nonstop translatlantic flight? I’m not exactly an aviation expert so I’m very prepared to see corrections and clarifications.
Have a couple of cocktails, and everyone goes high and right.
Gees…
Nose,
That’s the Buffalo configuration, right?
You know… we are quick to talk about what is going wrong with this country, and there is an awful lot I don’t like, but good Grief, I read stuff like this and it helps me remember all that is RIGHT as well. Holy crap.
According to the pictures provided by the liberal media, it appears that the 767 also has four engines!
Might have been this guy: http://tinyurl.com/de5l78
“it appears that the 767 also has four engines!”
I too did a double-take, but when I hovered my mouse over the photo the following caption appeared: “An Aeroflot Ilyushin 96 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport”.
What an odd Russian flight. There is no mention of chickens or huge, giant sacks filledwith produce bursting out of hte overhead bins, or dried sausage under the seats. Aero-flop must be trying to class up. At least the pilot was not drinking the hydraulic fluid and was kind enough to leave that to the ground crew.
This is the reason I did not like to fly while in Russia and why I made sure we came to the State on FinnAir…
OT – Olga, do you have a web site? I’d be interested in hearing your story.
Pogue,
)
No, I do not. You can find some of my story (not air travel related) at the B5 blog – I was a ‘guest writer’ on the topic of the Russian war with Georgia
pst314,
I have to confess that I got my wires crossed – I thought that Aeroflot flew the 767-200, when in fact it is the 300 they fly. That said,
wikipedia states that Aeroflot has theirs configured for 218 pax.
Nose,
Great find. Did you know Foster Brooks was an award-winning news reporter in Louisville, Ky., in his youth? One restaurant I used to frequent on Bardstown Road had a picture on the wall of him w. camera hanging from the cross-bars of a telephone pole on Main St. in the 37 flood with water inches from his body.
He established an annual charity celeb. golf tournament in Louisville which is still held with proceeds going to Norton’s Children’s hosp, IIRC.