Pilot Arrested For Intoxication Moments Before Flying 267 Passengers

A Boeing 767-424 of United Airlines takes off from Berlin-Brandenburg “Willy Brandt” Airport (BER).
Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa (Getty Images)

A flight from Paris to Washington D.C. was canceled after the pilot was arrested before he could go drunk flying over the weekend.

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United Airlines flight UA331 was supposed to leave Charles De Gaulle International Airport at 5 p.m. That was before security officials spotted the pilot with glassy eyes and staggering slightly before boarding around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, according to Le Parisian via One Mile At A Time:

The man was subjected to two blood alcohol tests, which found a blood alcohol level of 0.056 and 0.059. Regulations in France limit pilots to a blood alcohol level of 0.02, compared to the legal limit of 0.05 for driving (as a point of comparison, in the United States, the limit is 0.04 for pilots, and 0.08 for drivers). For a flight departing France, the pilot was nearly three times over the legal limit.

When questioned, the captain stated that he had only consumed two glasses of wine the night before. The man was arrested and held in custody. The judge doubted the captain’s account of how much he drank, and stated that “there could have been a plane crash, you put 267 passengers at risk.”

His BAC was six times the European limit and three times the limit set by the Federal Aviation Administration. While 0.059 BAC would be within the legal limit if the pilot was driving a car, a plane is a bit more complicated. The 63-year-old pilot was hit with a six-months suspension and 4,500 Euro fine, and will possibly face more problems here in the U.S.