I think those guys that were arrested right away were caught by authorities while they were still drunk. If he was turned in after the fact then there's a lot more investigative work to prove it, plus an indictment takes time.

Well that sucks, but easily prevented by not flying drunk.

Innocent people paid United a lot of money to be flown from one place to another with their United ticket. United has the responsibility for getting them there safely, and even if something like this happens where it is questionable as to who's fault it is... United needs to be the one that takes the heat.

For the same reason that Ford takes the hit when they do a recall because Acme Fastener Company makes faulty lug nuts.

If a company sub contracts, it is the company, not the sub contractor, who gets sued. (After the fact, the company CAN sue the sub contractor, but the consumer is not responsible for finding the third party)

Regionals doing most of the flying for the brand they contract for is not only about the lower labor cost, its also about the mainline carrier seperating themselves from the liablility of of the added risk of doing things so cheap.

Mainlines have generally gotten away with this but the Colgan Buffalo crash and its investigation have revealed the ugly truth to the public and the government officials who represent the public.

One thing to remember though is that this drunk pilot thing has actually happened more at the mainline pilot level oddly enough. Maybe because alcoholism is such progressive disease and often doesn't reach severe levels until later in life. I dunno. But I sense the media along with the general public isn't so interested in seperating out only who the sub-contracted company is anymore.

I would hope that since mainlines are being held more accountable for who they contract and since we've already seen regulation changes on their marketing and ticketing that life would get better for pilots at the regional level but that's only wishful thinking. I haven't seen any changes for the better at most regional carriers.

If you're a regional pilot, you don't want, or need another layer of bureaucracy in your life. It would be a mess.

Aside from getting your priorities in order, consider a $50 breathalyzer.

Regional pilots can usually only afford afternoon happy hour... and are sober by the morning. :D

Can't be proven without a drug screen/blood test immediately after landing. If they had that this should have been dealt with soon after. Bet there is a lot more to the story... thank you media.

It doesn't happen more often at the mainline level. It just makes the news more often. A drunk 777 captain in some far off city is a more exciting headline as opposed to a drunk regional punk in Des Moines.

Maybe if United was held liable for all issues at Express it wouldn't be outsourcing so much of the flying.

+1 ;) and wishful thinking from my end. Every corporate goon on the farm finds ways around this.

Those $50 breathalysers are horribly inaccurate, not that you should ever be cutting things so close that you need to check your BAC anyway. You have to spend a lot more to get the kind with a respectable sensor technology inside.