Dad Flies Drunk - Gets Son Killed! 

The woman working ATC in the first segment is a true professional.

That ATC was so calm and professional but you just know her heart must have been hammering when she recognised what she was dealing with.

I knew a pilot about 50 years ago that told me, “If he had just popped a top on a beer and took just one sip and then stopped drinking, he would not fly an airplane for at least 24 hours. He was a good man.

0.288 is SO DRUNK, totally fucking hammered. He'd have to be a complete alcoholic to be able to fly at all with that much alcohol in his system.

I’m a 70yo Veteran and retired Corporate Pilot with 14,000 hours. I have never seen or heard anything like what is shown here.

I have a colleague who holds a pilot license. He tells me the reason drunk airmen are so much more rare than drunk drivers, is the fact that they usually end up dead before being caught anyway. A drunk driver can always take it slow and appear sober, whereas a pilot always has to be attentive and ready to face the unforseen.

I quit drugs and drinking the evening my first child was born. Never looked back.

My English is not excellent, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. Just to clarify, the video of the Brazilian pilot was not made on the same day that father and son died. And the wife also took her own life after their burial, not when she found out about the accident. Just adding information about this tragic episode. Keep up the great videos!

Imagine how the son felt when things started going wrong as the plane was going down. Poor kid.

I am not a pilot, just a daughter who spent so many wonderful hours with my dad while he flew out of Lilydale Airport in Melbourne Australia. My father was a perfectionist in everything he did, and I trusted him implicitly every time we flew. He never scared me and he certainly never drank alcohol. I am so grateful for those times as he died last December, aged 87, not flying for 15yrs due to heart issues, but he missed it until he died.

My dad used to have me drive at like 12-15 when he was drunk and used to say the same thing “It’s ok if the passenger has one right” alcoholics man they are something else

in reference to the first video I was CIC that day and was assisting her, no names but she is a very good controller. That was quite frustrating. The audio must have been cut but when we asked him if he was solo he replied with " just me and the captain".

That first flight controller was amazing. Handling a drunk(or impaired pilots) is touchy as best and kept him communicating and interacting as best she could without being confrontational. She deserves more money.

There was a pilot in my area that would fly while drinking. He had a 335 Skymaster. Last I heard he crashed from fuel exhaustion, totaled the plane but survived. It's probably more common than people realize. Alcohol has ruined so many lives and families.

This one was a tough one to watch but wow... the woman working the ATC was the real MVP that day. She handled it like a champ!

This ATC controller woman is my new hero. She has the patience of a whole herd of elephants. Amazing.

I was a police pilot for one of the largest departments in the country. I followed an airplane into an airport because the pilot flew like he was drunk, in between high rise skyscrapers in downtown. He turned all of his lights off after landing at an uncontrolled airport and tried to get into his hanger before we landed on the taxiway (helicopter). Yes, he was drunk and got arrested.

The first pilot had a .288 bac? That’s into pass out and go to the hospital territory. He’s got some tolerance for sure, not his first rodeo.

When he said ‘jet test 420’ my mouth hung wide open 😂

So proud of that kid for telling on his Dad. So scary. Im glad he is ok.

"I drank the vodka after the crash." "Your BAC was .288." "It was a LOT of vodka"

Kudos to the controller in the first segment. She was outstanding.

Bro drinking and driving at much lower speeds is incredibly dangerous. I've crashed on my bicycle riding home from the bar one time. An airplane would never cross my mind.

As a father myself, I’m disgusted by both of those previous pilots. I would fight a moose and grizzly bear in a handicap match for my son if it meant protecting him from harm. I could never be the one to knowingly put him in its way. Those kids deserved better fathers and those fathers didn’t deserve to have kids.

A friend got me into flying 40 years ago. He was building hours to get his commercial certificate, and I would split the cost to get some experience and hours as I was working on my private license. He always told me not 1 beer. We flew from Dallas, Texas, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At dinner, he told me to order 1 beer, and I would not be flying the plane back to Dallas. Within 20 minutes of taking off, I was drunk. It was a great lesson learned. I couldn't believe at 8500 feet how much of an impact that 1 beer had on me.

The scene of the man having his son fly was all too familiar. I remember being forced to drive at age 11 or 12 so my dad could slam down some beers. The good part is I became a really good driver before even having a license. The bad part is my dad ended up drinking himself to a premature death.

My mom was a security guard near the airport to keep people from parking there during an airshow I believe. A truck came around the corner and almost hit her, she jumped out of the way. He hit a truck and a building. His truck was totalled. My mom asked him if he was okay and he said yes, just running late for work. My mom could smell alcohol on his breath. A cop was right there and ended up arresting him. The cop told my mom he was a pilot heading into work. Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada.

This is my first time hearing about your channel. I was intrigued. You are very thorough in your analysis. I am a retired electronics engineer and appreciate your candor. Keep up the GREAT work!!!

I can’t believe how great that first controller handled everything. Zero hint of frustration. Just safety first.

Geez this was hard to watch. Hard to imagine being as reckless as any of these folks. Good debrief, sir.

This kind of hits home for me pretty bad… When I was in highschool my best friend’s dad was a criminal defense attorney who owned multiple planes. A single engine 4 seater and a twin engine 6 or 8 seater, can’t remember what models though. I’m not a pilot and not really too versed on civilian models. My best friend at the time was getting hours to become a pilot. We would fly about an hour away to watch NHL hockey games all of the time. They had 4 season tickets. Well his dad would end up drinking at the hockey games and my best friend would fly us back home pretty much every game. I don’t really remember him being super inebriated, probably tipsy, but he was definitely under the influence. We would be flying back at night as well. My best friend was a great pilot and would do the entire leg on the way back, take off and landing. I didn’t really think much of it at the time. I probably even thought it was cool but I was an immature freshman / sophomore in highschool. I even remember a time where I was in the co-pilot seat because his dad was in the back of the plane with his girlfriend getting sloppy toppy. There was never a time where I felt like we were in danger, no close calls, nothing ever went wrong but looking back now I realize how insane it really was.The fact that he’s a criminal defense attorney makes it that much more insane. You would think he would have better judgement than that but maybe he felt untouchable. My former best friend is currently a pilot for Delta and has been flying for them for over 10 years. His dad still practices law and still owns multiple planes and still flies often. Seeing this video makes me realize how insanely dumb and reckless this was. Any amount of alcohol is too much when you’re flying an aircraft and when you’re letting your son fly who isn’t fully licensed. I mean he was 15 at the time. Just so insane looking back and we all probably got lucky that things never did take a turn for the worst.

I am a retired British police officer - I attended quite a few alcohol factored car crashes, with unfortunately fatal consequences on occassion - but drinking and flying is total insanity. Thank you for your appeal at the end. Many people have issues with alcohol, it is a brave and admirable person who does something about it BEFORE something happens. Keep safe.

Back in the 1940s my dad, at the age of 22 was a captain for United. He always said to never drink then fly. He would always not have any alcohol for a minimum of 24 hours... self discipline ... such could be said for morals and so many things in life.

Growing up with an alcoholic father, this cut right through me. So tragic.

Of all the folks on youtube that do these types of videos, yours are the most thoughtful and informative. Very well done and produced. Thanks for taking the time to do what you do.

This really hit home. Like many boomer age kids whose Dad came back from war a raging alcoholic I remember the hundreds of times my Dad drove me and my brother around drunk out of his mind with the cabin full of cigarette smoke. Pretty sure if he was a pilot he would have flown drunk.

It was 1978 and my father's friend was near the end of his divorce. When he learned his wife would receive possession of his prized airplane he went up in the air, became extreme intoxicated, and took his own life by crashing the aircraft. He did so in a desolated area as to not hurt anyone else, so at least he was cognizant of his actions, but still a very sad story.

If I'd heard about that last story about the drunk father without seeing the video, I would've had trouble believing a father and pilot could be *that* irresponsible.

This content is very informative while also being respectful. Great job!

Hoover you are utilizing your talents, experience, skills and ability to do good work here. If the content of your videos, including the exceptionally tragic one at the end of this one reaches, rattles and encourages just one aviator to either recalibrate (so to speak) or straighten up and fly right all together, then you're a hero. I have a feeling you're reaching a lot of folks who've gotten way too comfortable or even better, provided insight to those who may experience a glitch in the future. Keep up the good work sir 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

I was just talking to my son about situations like this. How any kind of impairment can be deadly. I can't imagine what his son was thinking and feeling as it became clear the plane was going down. My old man was an opiate addict. In the 90s it wasn't like it is today where people understood the signs of someone being high. Just watching the few moments of footage I was instantly taken back to the feeling of pure terror. You have zero control as that child with the absolute understanding of the likelihood of dieing or killing someone else because of your father's impairment. That's supposed to be the one man in your life that would give his in order to keep you safe. I have no idea how my brother and I are alive today. When I watch footage like this my heart breaks for the son and it doesn't go away, even as my anger grows for the father. I don't know how my father is still alive, if only in the sense of his body converting o2 into co2. My son hasn't, nor will he ever, meet my father. PLEASE, anyone reading this, DO NOT ingest anything that impairs your ability to think clearly and move quickly when someone's life is in your hands.

I knew an old pilot that flew fast jets in the 50s and 60s. He told me flying while drunk was normalised in his neck of the woods, and that they had many accidents which was explained away with other causes, but in reality was due to drunk pilots.

Hey Hoover retired cc130J loadmaster went to AA after retirement almost 10 years sober and i could have had a longer career had i got sober sooner, great content and advice!!!

So sad. Thank you for the video man👍🏼 Gotta shed light on these situations 100%

I did a hypoxia training chamber ride in the 80s and I still vividly remember that my first obvious symptom was tunnel vision. It was followed eventually by an intense upwelling euphoria sensation, like someone injected vodka directly into my brain. Connecting back up, the symptoms vanished almost instantly. But the weirdest part was I recall drawing my little geometric shapes, seeing them become lopsided and skewed and being aware of it, BUT NOT SEEING IT AS A PROBLEM even though I was supposed to me making them straight. A neighbor who was a chain smoker was in full blown euphoria, cackling like a dental patient on laughing gas, in about half the time as everybody else and the instructor had to intervene to reconnect his mask.

A story from the early 1990s A solo pilot flying from a Green Bay Packers game to Superior, Wisconsin crashed while still wearing his rubber Cheese Head hat. He attributes his survival to wearing the Cheese Head.

9:16 He says "Yeah, I'm under the radar, squawk 1200 and have a great day!"

Just wow at the 1st story. A drunk driver can even survive a plane crash.

I never got confused in an altitude chamber just slow and quiet. My main hypoxia symptoms are a splitting headache and tingling in my arms. I used my training to recognize hypoxia while hiking up Mt Humphreys in Flagstaff. Had me concerned until I figured out what was going on and started mitigating it with better hydration and resting to let my body catch up. When I finally made it to the top, I saw this person running up while I was admiring the view. She was the local girls cross country coach.

I am a retired Flight Attendant and I can not believe that any pilot would even consider doing such an unbelievable thing….

Well done! Straightforward and honest debrief.

I have watched many of your videos. They are excellent. Thank you for sharing such pertinent information.

There is never an excuse for drinking and driving. Drinking and flying...that's just another level of irresponsible behavior. Actually, I don't have the words to describe how horrible that thought is. Thank you for sharing these instances, Hover, regardless of how difficult they were to process. And YES, if you have the need to consume alcohol at inappropriate times and circumstances, recognize that you might have a problem and seek help. There is more at stake than just you and your life.

Makes you wonder how many "got away wit it" as opposed to those who came to grief.

Hear a drunk pilot over the radio is the most disturbing and nastiest thing I’ve heard in awhile

This channel is fantastic. Excellent work. Terrible event that was reviewed with professionalism.

The patience of the controller, absolutely incredible job! And a shocking story, thanks for sharing and explaining Hoover!

Excellent professionalism by the controller. She clearly knew something was up but rather than challenge the pilot or get grumpy which may contributed to an accident she guided him down.

Dad will never forgive his sons betrayal

You do an unbelievable job at this, keep up the great work!!!

This is unforgivable behaviour and incredibly sad ..

That last video really hit differently. So tragic. It’s perplexing how some individuals out there with licenses, still treat these aircrafts as toys without any regard to safety.

As always, great video. Thanks for posting!

Love the videos and how you explain them with detail, your channel is so underrated

BAC of 0.288!! It's a wonder he was able to get into the air in the first place!

This last and terrible accident happened here, on the 29th of July, near the city of Vilhena, state of Rondônia. His father was known for being a very good pilot. Things like that should not happen again. May God comfort their families.

My dad got a dui in his airplane years ago at the Arlington air show. He was a total drunk he has since fixed his life but I’ll never forget that. He landed at the air show and one of the ground people showing him where to park saw his alcohol and then a sheriff came over and he was arrested

Addiction is giving up everything for one thing. Recovery is giving up one thing for everything.

That was heavy! Currently training for my CPL in Canada. I really enjoy your debriefs! Congrats on the growth and thank you for the content, Sir.

Wow that training for altitude sickness is crazy

These stories and situations need to be told, appreciated, and actually LEARNED FROM!

This made me so angry... What a complete disregard for your sons life. Not only did he fail as a pilot, as a father but also as a human being.

Good work. These are extremely important videos for everyone, whether a veteran or student. It's such a terrific gift to fly small planes teach someone about them; a gift that should never be abused.

That woman ATC in the first video was incredible. That last video was really sad about the mom. All because of a beer.

Drunk driving is bad enough, but drunk flying? That's horrifying!

Yes, great job by the controller in the first case. She was on top of her game.

Just discovered this channel because of your shorts. Coming from someone who flew a plan for 2 hours 10 years ago, this is fascinating. I appreciate the professionalism and respect in these videos.

Really awesome work my friend…!!! Love your analysis so well done 👍 😊

I didn’t know I was in a full heat stroke when I was. I know that’s different than being drunk or hypoxic, but similar in some ways. I was working with my supervisor next to a passenger plane and I thought I was speaking normally. I remember it all somehow. I saw him get on his radio and the next thing I knew I was being taken away in an ambulance. He told me afterward that I was behaving normally and making sounds like someone talking but I was not saying any words, just complete gibberish. Very scary.

The drunk Citation guy must be a raving alcoholic to not be passed out. A 0.3 (15 drinks) to 0.4 is the zone for alcohol poisoning and passing out.

As a retired TRACON and tower controller, I can tell you that this happens more than you'd know. My first thought too would be hypoxia or carbon monoxide poisoning. Where I worked, we had a PA-28 Cherokee with a drunk pilot and passengers on board -- they crashed big time!

Planes are terrifying, there's absolutely no room for error, everything about life u know ends in a blink of an eye

Came from your shorts. This is incredibly sad to hear but important to know. You did a great job with this, what was your profession prior? You sound like you worked somewhere with constant public speaking or news reporting. Video, sad, your mannerisms, voice, info, amazing.

As for the child that let the Sheriff know the whole truth, I have concerns for that child’s wellbeing. Do we know if CPS stepped in to protect the child from a retaliatory alcoholic parent?

Our company would send the pilots to chamber training at Sonny Carter in Houston. For anyone who flies pressurized aircraft, I highly recommend it. Everyone’s hypoxia symptoms vary, so it is the best way to discover how you react. Especially, when you review the videos. In a few CRM recurrent courses, we did listen to ATC tapes of pilots experiencing hypoxia. It sounds very similar to the drunk pilot in the Citation. So tragic on the last example of flying drunk.

These were excellent, thank you

Just found your channel and really enjoy the content so far.

Man... Total lack of words to describe the anger. Probation? Loss of License? Death? Probably not the first time these pilots (or better said "Idiots" who should have been serving a 20 year prison sentence) flew drunk. Anyone who knew and did nothing is complicit.

There are few things that provoke real outrage in me and I just found a new one.

Well done. This is so clearly and coherently delivered that even a non-pilot (me) can understand and appreciate.

As a retired florist and beekeeper, I can tell you this happens more times than you’d think.

What a disturbing video, I'm truly shocked by the lack of responsibility. Love your channel, keep up the great content.

I don't fly but I love flying, I was shaking my head thru this video. Don't drink and fly or drive. Good video

I never fly intoxicated but have struggled with an alcohol addiction in the past. This is a great reminder of why life is so much better alcohol free!

I love listening to your debriefs

I have a friend from Bolivia that learned to fly when he was 10 years old. There were no cars anywhere near his small village, so to get to the nearest grocery store of any kind, he had to fly a small Cessna to get there. Of course, that was back in the mid-70s, but even then, he actually learned to fly safely. I can't imagine a kid this young being put into that situation (in the video). Terrible day.

Excellent work as usual Hoover, thank you!...it broke my heart to see the last one, but these abuses of aviation have to be known

Fantastic presentation, Hoover. Thanks !

A new channel for me and this is absolutely interesting stuff! I'm now subscribed and happy to watch all your educational, cool vids ❤

Good stuff! Videos like these can save lives.