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Drunk Pilot Booted Off Flight Minutes Before Take-Off

THE COURIER MAIL, PERTH NOW, BRISBANE TIMES (Australia)

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Qantas has confirmed it has stood down a female captain from duties after she was suspected of drinking before a flight from Sydney to Brisbane last week, reports the Courier Mail.

According to the Brisbane Times, the incident occurred as the Qantas aircraft was about to depart for Brisbane. Flight attendants on the Boeing 767-300 aircraft, which can carry 254 passengers, informed the airline's flight operations managers that they suspected the captain of the plane had been drinking.

Qantas pilot stood down for drinking on the job. Claims she misinterpreted their motto "Spirit of Australia".

— Dan Anstey (@Dan_Anstey) August 6, 2012

A passenger on board flight QF516 said the aircraft taxi-ed out to the runway before the female pilot announced there was a problem and they needed to turn back, said the Courier Mail.

The newspaper says the captain was breathalysed, in line with normal Qantas procedures. According to Perth Now, it is not known what reading the pilot gave, but Qantas -- like all airlines -- has a strict zero tolerance policy when it comes to pilots drinking alcohol before flying any aircraft.

The Australian Civil Aviation and Safety Authority has performed 54,000 drug and alcohol test on pilots, cabin crew, air traffic controllers and baggage handlers since 2008, says the Courier Mail.

 Only 45 of those tests, or 0.08 per cent, came back positive -- and none of those results were related to pilots.

If this is determined to be a one-off incident, writes the Brisbane Times, the pilot will be expected to undergo counseling and later a medical assessment to determine whether she is fit to fly. But if it is a long-term problem, she will be suspended from duties.

Qantas captain in charge of plane when drunk. Passengers became suspicious during unscheduled stopover at kebab shop. #Qantas

— adam rozenbachs (@arozenbachs) August 6, 2012

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Ideas

Populists With A Plan: Welcome To The Age Of Reactionism

Right-wing reaction to the globalized, liberal order is starting to look less dispersed and more systematic, like 20th-century political movements like socialism and communism.

Photo of Bolsonaro Supporters Storming Congress

Supporters of former Brazilian President Bolsonaro clash with mounted police in the capital.

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — In a 2018 text published in the International Studies Quarterly, academics Joseph MacKay and Christopher David La Roche asked why there was no "Reactionary International Theory." In December of that year, speaking with Crisis journal, I myself stressed that beyond Europe and the United States, international reactionism was taking root in Latin America. Then in 2019, "Reactionary Internationalism" and the philosophy of the New Right were the subjects of another paper by Pablo de Orellana and Nicholas Michelsen.

As an emergent trend, the "reactionary international" is worth considering.

This international is comparable in scope to 20th-century currents like the Communist International, Socialist International and Christian Democrat International. While those were prominent in Europe, the new reaction has emerged most emblematically in Anglo-American countries and remains a solidly Western phenomenon. Its expressions in peripheral countries, eastern Europe or Latin America have effectively adopted its mainstream proposals.

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