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Flying Drunk: The True Story of a Northwest Airlines
Flight, Three Drunk Pilots, and one Man's Fight for Redemption By Joe
Balzer (Savas Beatie, 2009)
On
January 4, 2013, an American Eagle captain was removed from an aircraft
carrying 53 passengers set to leave the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International airport due to intoxication.
Since 2008, the number of intoxicated pilots has held steady.
“One of
the most notorious cases of a pilot drinking and flying occurred in
1990, when the captain, flight engineer and first officer were arrested
when their flight from Fargo landed at the Twin Cities airport,” wrote
Paul Walsh from Star Tribune.
On March
8, 1990, an intoxicated three-man crew, including Flight Engineer Joseph
Balzer, flew a Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 with 91 passengers aboard
from Fargo, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Joe
Balzer had always dreamed of flying. He pursued his goal with a vigorous
passion and earned his pilot licenses, piling up hours of flight time
with a wide variety of planes and jets with one overarching goal: to one
day fly for a major airline. But Joe had a problem. He was an alcoholic
and refused to admit to himself that he had a problem.
“I
compromised my own personal value system,” said Joe Balzer, “Alcohol got
the best of me again, and it was going to ruin my career. I didn’t
realize I was an alcoholic; I didn’t want to be one of ‘those’ people.”
Joe Balzer’s book, Flying Drunk,
is a journey of the human spirit, from childhood to hell, and back
again. “We need to get help for pilots who are tempted to drink, because
when we do, we have the highest success rate,” said Balzer.
Balzer
and the recent American Eagle incident are not the only pilot
intoxications to ever make headlines. Hollywood has also taken a stab at
the issue with Denzel Washington’s new movie Flight about an
airline pilot who saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation
into the malfunctions reveals signs of intoxication.
About the Author
Joe
Balzer is currently a pilot for American Airlines with more than 15,000
hours of flight experience. He has a Master's Degree in Aerospace
Education and is also an inspirational speaker, traveling around the
country speaking to pilots and other groups on the dangers of alcohol
and other addictions, bringing his audience to laughter and tears with
his powerful message of hope. Joe lives in Tennessee. Flying Drunk is
his first book.
For more information, visit the book's page.
