Two airline pilots were just taken into custody before a transatlantic flight as they were suspected of being drunk, the Independent reported - adding another pair to the recent tally of allegedly soused airmen intending to commit the crime of Flying While Intoxicated (FWI).
United Airlines flight UA162 was due to depart Saturday at 9 a.m. from Glasgow, Scotland to Newark, NJ, with 141 passengers aboard when the arrest occurred. The flight then took off with a replacement crew. The AP stated that the search for another crew took 10 hours.
The male pilots, aged 35 and 45, will appear in court on Monday.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said, via the Independent, that the two men "are presently detained in police custody in connection with alleged offenses under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, Section 93."
This statute, according to the Independent, has to do with "carrying out pilot function or activity while exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol." That limit, detected via a breath test, is nine micrograms of alcohol in 100 milliliters.
News about allegedly drunk pilots has popped up a few times in recent months. Earlier in August, a SriLankan Airlines pilot was suspended for attempting to fly 270 passengers from Germany to Sri Lanka while intoxicated. In July, two Air Transat pilots were also arrested in Glasgow for attempting to commit FWI on a flight to Toronto, Canada.
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