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British judge jails drunk Japan Airlines pilot Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, who was 10 times over legal limit, saying he posed a ‘catastrophic’ risk

  • Katsutoshi Jitsukawa was sentenced to 10 months’ prison after he turned up for a London-to-Tokyo flight last month reeking of alcohol

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An undated photo (left) issued on Thursday by London's Metropolitan Police shows JAL pilot Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, who has been jailed for 10 months after failing a breath test just 50 minutes before a flight to Tokyo from London. Photos: AP and Agence France-Presse
Associated Press

A Japan Airlines pilot who reported for a London-to-Tokyo flight almost 10 times over the alcohol limit has been sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Katsutoshi Jitsukawa was arrested on October 28 after the driver of a Heathrow Airport crew bus smelled alcohol on him and reported it to security officials.

Toshinori Shin (centre), general manager of Japan Airlines’ flight operations division, bows in apology at a press conference in Tokyo on November 1, 2018, after a JAL pilot was detained by British police for drinking alcohol before a flight from London to Tokyo. The pilot has since been identified as Katsutoshi Jitsukawa Photo: Kyodo
Toshinori Shin (centre), general manager of Japan Airlines’ flight operations division, bows in apology at a press conference in Tokyo on November 1, 2018, after a JAL pilot was detained by British police for drinking alcohol before a flight from London to Tokyo. The pilot has since been identified as Katsutoshi Jitsukawa Photo: Kyodo
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Tests found the 42-year-old first officer had 189 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his system, almost 10 times the 20 milligrams limit for a pilot. The limit for drivers in Britain is 80 milligrams.

Drunk-pilot scandal prompts Japan Airlines subsidiaries to impose preflight drinking ban

Judge Phillip Matthews said Jitsukawa had put passengers at risk and the consequences could have been “catastrophic.”

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