A commercial pilot has been pulled from a plane and arrested on suspicion of attempting to fly while drunk moments before takeoff.
Pilot David Alsop, 52, of Southwest Airlines, from New Hampshire, was arrested at Savannah/Hilton Head Airport in the United States. Georgia He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
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Passengers were delayed for hours when a flight from Savannah to Chicago, Illinois, that was supposed to take off at 6:05 a.m., didn't get into the air until 11 a.m.
Southwest Airlines told Fox News that it was investigating the incident and that Alsop had been “removed from duty.”
The company said: “We are aware of the situation involving an employee on board Flight 3772 this morning from Savannah.
“The employee has been dismissed from his job”
Allsop's public profile on LinkedIn indicates that he has been a pilot for Southwest since 2006, and that before that he spent nine years commanding aircraft squadrons in the US Air Force.
we law Pilots are prohibited from flying an aircraft with a blood alcohol level higher than 0.04, which is below the maximum permitted for cars of 0.08.
Violations of the law may result in revocation of your pilot's license.
It is not clear what led to the suspicion that Alsop was intoxicated when he showed up for work.
Southwest also apologized and said passengers on the grounded plane were being accommodated on other flights.
A company spokesperson said: “Customers have been accommodated on other flights, and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans.”
“There is nothing more important to Southwest than the safety of our employees and customers.”
the police Investigation in progress.
It's rare for pilots to be so irresponsible that they attempt to fly planes while drunk – but it's not unheard of.
A Delta Air Lines pilot risked hundreds of lives when he was found to have exceeded the limit two and a half times before flying across the Atlantic Ocean.
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Lawrence Russell Jr, 63, was scheduled to fly a Boeing 767 from Edinburgh to New York last year when he was caught with alcohol in his system.
Security staff at Edinburgh Airport searched Russell Jr's luggage and found that he had two bottles of Jäegermeister in his suitcase in June 2023.
Suspicions arose when one of the bottles was spotted and found to be only “half full”, with Russell admitting that he had devoured the rest.
The police were called and Russell failed a breath test.
He later underwent blood tests at Livingstone Police Station which showed Russell had at least 49mg of alcohol in 100mg of blood.
This level far exceeded the legal limit imposed by UK law of 20mg/100ml.
He was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to performing his duty as a pilot while impaired by alcohol.
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