Pilot Jailed After Trying To Fly Plane From Edinburgh To New York While Drunk
The Guardian, March 19, 2024. Ed. - Airline Industry. The Delta airlines employee was caught with a half empty bottle of Jägermeister in his hand luggage
A pilot who was found to be almost 2-and-a-half times the aviation alcohol limit as he prepared to take charge of a transatlantic flight from Edinburgh to New York has been jailed for 10 months. Capt Lawrence Russell Jr was caught with 2 bottles of Jägermeister in his hand luggage, one of which was half empty, during a bag search at Edinburgh airport in June last year.
The Delta Airlines pilot was arrested by police and subsequently provided a sample that was said to be “not less than 49mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood." The strict legal aviation limit is just 20mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. Russell, 63, was sentenced at Edinburgh sheriff court on Tuesday after pleading guilty in March to reporting for duty as a pilot while being impaired through alcohol.
Jailing Russell for 10 months, Sheriff Alison Stirling said a prison sentence had to be imposed for “punishment [and the] protection of the public” while noting he had 2 previous convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol in the US. The court heard how Russell, an American from the state of Georgia, was rostered to fly the Boeing 767 plane from Edinburgh to New York’s JFK airport early on 16 June 2023.
He was stopped after 2 bottles of Jägermeister were discovered in his carry-on baggage when it went through an X-ray security machine.
Russell, who was wearing a pilot’s uniform and a lanyard with the word “Delta” printed on it, admitted he was the owner of the alcohol. Defence agent Pamela Rodgers told the court that her “remorseful” client was a recovering alcoholic who had not drunk alcohol for 277 days and had completed the 12 steps to recovery rehabilitation programme. Responding to the sentence, Lynne Barrie, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: “Lawrence Russell’s conduct would have endangered many lives; the consequences could have been catastrophic...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/19/pilot-who-tried-to-fly-plane-from-edinburgh-to-new-york-while-drunk-is-jailed
= new reply since forum marked as read
