Japanese pilot TEN TIMES the alcohol limit at Heathrow

A JAPANESE pilot has admitted being nearly ten times over the alcohol limit shortly before a flight from Heathrow.

First officer Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, 42, was arrested at the country’s busiest airport after failing a breath test just 50 minutes before Japan Airlines flight JL44 to Tokyo was due to take off.

The driver of a crew bus at the airport alerted police after smelling alcohol on the co-pilot’s breath.

Jitsukawa admitted drinking about two bottles of wine and a pitcher of beer the previous night, according to NHK – Japan’s equivalent of the BBC.

The Boeing 777 he was due to help fly holds up to 244 passengers. The flight departed after a 69-minute delay.

Jitsukawa pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol limit at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court yesterday. Tests revealed he had 189mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system – almost ten times the 20mg limit for a pilot. The drink- drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80mg.

Jitsukawa was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on November 29.

JAL issued an apology and pledged to ‘implement immediate actions to prevent any future occurrence’, adding that ‘safety remains our utmost priority’.

The airline said: ‘The company does not condone the individual’s actions. The company would like to sincerely apologise for this issue.’

The incident comes a day after another major Japanese airline, All Nippon Airways, apologised for delaying five flights when a pilot became unwell due to heavy drinking the night before.

In June, an experienced British Airways pilot was jailed for eight months for being caught on duty while more than four times the alcohol limit. Julian Monaghan, 49, drank three double vodkas in his hotel room on an empty stomach before he was due on board a flight from Gatwick to Mauritius on January 18.

Passengers had already started to board when Monaghan was taken from the cockpit in handcuffs on suspicion of reporting for duty as a pilot while his level of alcohol was over the limit.

In Lewes Crown Court, Judge Janet Waddicor told him: ‘You took a risk and it didn’t pay off because you were caught. The safety, if not the lives, indeed, of passengers and crew members are in the hands of the pilot. They are entitled to feel they are safe.’