Crackdown on spirit fuelled behaviour of SriLankan crews

SriLankan Airlines flight crews have been warned that random testing for alcohol and drugs will be carried out on them at base and overseas stations with immediate effect.

This is the direct outcome of the August 19 incident in Frankfurt. Flight UL 544 took off 15 hours late after it was disclosed that the pilot, Captain Upendra Ranaweera failed a breathalyser test. A total of 259 passengers were booked to fly to Colombo. They will each be now entitled to 200 Euros in terms of European Union regulations where flights are delayed beyond seven hours.

The captain’s state of intoxication was first detected by two senior First Officers Nuwan Gunaratne and Shane Livera who were assigned to the flight under the command of Captain Ranaweera. They had reported the matter to Airbus 330 Chief Pilot Captain Pravin Wettimuny. He had advised that Captain Ranaweera be subjected to a check at the Health Centre at Frankfurt International Airport.

There, a breathalyser test showed that he was far in excess of the permitted alcohol level. One source said the breathalyser test showed a 1.7 % alcohol level. The source said if the detection was made after he entered the cockpit of the aircraft he was to fly, he would have been liable for arrest and would have faced criminal charges. European Union laws in respect of passenger safety are said to be among the strictest.

In “Flying Staff Instructions” sent out on Thursday, August 25 Captain Wettimuny has said that the SriLankan Airlines alcohol limit, authorised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) through a breathalyser test is 0.02 percent. Through a blood test, he has pointed out the approved limit was two milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Refusal by an employee to undergo the testing process, Captain Wettimuny has said, would be considered “a breach of the Alcohol and Psychoactive substance testing policy and will be considered a positive test result.”