Sobering incident

Reporting for work in an intoxicated condition is bad enough. But if the tipsy employee is a commercial pilot, that is downright scary.

Yet a United Airlines pilot detained at London's Heathrow Airport Monday is under investigation on suspicion of being drunk on the job.

Capt. Erwin Washington, 51, was arrested after crew members reported him, British police said. He was about to fly 124 passengers from London to Chicago. He is the third U.S. pilot to be arrested in Britain on alcohol-related charges in the past 13 months, according to USA Today.

An average of 11 commercial pilots have tested positive for alcohol each year since 1997, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

The FAA conducts more than 10,000 random alcohol tests annually, the newspaper reported. There are about 100,000 commercial pilots in the United States.

Pilots are prohibited from flying if they have a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 percent or higher, which is stricter than the legal driving limit in most states. Pilots are supposed to refrain from drinking any alcohol in the eight hours before reporting for duty.

This incident follows two other cockpit lapses: two Northwest Airlines pilots recently overshot their destination by 150 miles due to inattention; and pilots in a crash that killed 50 people near Buffalo last February were chatting in the cockpit, a violation of federal rules.

Clearly, the FAA must maintain high standards and enforce strict rules for pilots to be attentive, focused and, of course, sober when operating aircraft. In the London case, crew members blew the whistle, which is good. Safety must be the highest priority.