Drunk Airline Pilots Face Prison

One America West Pilot Gets Five Years, Another Gets 2 1/2 Years

(AP) 
They were found guilty June 8 of operating an aircraft while drunk.

Testimony showed the pilots drank 14 beers between them, running up a $122 food and drink tab at a Coconut Grove sports bar until 4:40 a.m. with their flight scheduled to depart at 10:30 a.m. Federal rules require no alcohol be consumed in the eight hours before a flight.

The flight was stopped by police before takeoff after screeners noted alcohol on their breaths.

Tested hours later, their blood-alcohol levels were above Florida's 0.08 percent legal limit for drunken driving, which includes aircraft, experts said at trial. The levels were probably much higher when they were in the cockpit, the experts said.

The pilots unsuccessfully argued at trial that they weren't drunk and, besides, they weren't in control of their Airbus 319 carrying 117 passengers and crew because it was being towed by a tug when police in cruisers stopped them and ordered the jet back to the gate.

Prosecutor Hillah Catz called the sentences just and said it sent a message that anyone operating any type of vehicle should never do so while drunk.

She said it was "an insult" that the pilots argued that they were never operating the aircraft because it was being towed.