A Delta Air Lines pilot has been sentenced to ten months in prison after pleading guilty to appearing drunk on a flight scheduled for June 2023. At the time, the 61-year-old pilot, who is now 63, was scheduled to fly between Edinburgh and New York.
According to a statement by Sheriff Alison Stirling published by the Scottish judiciary, a Delta Air Lines captain has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after a trial at the Edinburgh Magistrates’ Court. The sentence was announced on 19 March 2024.
Stirling said that on June 16, 2023, the pilot had flight DL209 scheduled to depart Edinburgh Airport at 10:35 a.m. The Boeing 767-300ER was due to arrive at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport several hours later, but the flight was cancelled after the pilot was arrested and taken into custody.
Detailing the arrest, the court statement said the defendant arrived at the airport baggage claim area in his pilot’s uniform at 9:15 a.m. Subsequently, the pilot placed their bag in a tray and sent it to X-ray screening, which he failed, as the bag contained more fluids than the regulations allowed.
After a manual search, to which the pilot consented, security personnel discovered two bottles of liquor, one of which was half full. Since the pilot was wearing the pilot’s uniform, EDI officials called the police and the pilot told them he had been drinking the night before.
The police asked the pilot to take a breathalyser test, which showed an elevated level of alcohol. He was then arrested and taken to Livingston Police Station, where the pilot agreed to give a blood sample. The court statement said the governor’s blood contained no less than 49 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, while the legal limit is 20 milligrams.
