by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:00 PM ET, Tue January 3, 2017
On Saturday, a pilot was arrested in Canada for allegedly being drunk after he was found passed out in the cockpit of a Sunwing Airlines plane.
According to CNN.com, the pilot-identified as 37-year-old Miroslav Gronych-has been charged with having control of an aircraft while impaired after he was found unconscious in the cockpit by a co-pilot.
Gronych was scheduled to fly the Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737 to Regina, Winnipeg and Cancun, Mexico. At the time of his arrest, the plane was scheduled to carry 99 passengers and six crew members to their destination.
Calgary police said initial test on the pilot indicated he was under the influence of alcohol, and an official blood alcohol level taken two hours later showed that Gronych was still three times the legal limit of .08.
"It had all the potential for a disaster, but I'll tell you this much-the likelihood of a pilot on a major airline like this actually being able to take off when they're impaired like that is pretty slim, because there's a lot of checks and balances," Calgary police spokesman Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey said. "There's the other flight crew and there's gate crew and they're all about safety."
The allegedly drunk pilot was caught after the gate crew noticed him acting strange and notified the co-pilot, who found him passed out in the cockpit. Gronych was removed from the plane by police, and the flight continued with a different pilot.
Officials from Sunwing Airlines apologized for the incident but commended the rest of the crew for reporting the pilot's condition. The airline called the arrest a "very unfortunate matter."
"He won't be flying anytime soon," Stacey said.
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