According to a court statement, a Delta Airlines pilot who reported for duty at Edinburgh Airport in Scotland while intoxicated received a 10-month prison sentence.
On June 16, 2023, the pilot, 63-year-old American citizen Lawrence Russell Jr., was scheduled to captain a flight from Edinburgh to JFK airport in New York. Still, his blood alcohol content was higher than permitted. When he arrived at work on Tuesday, the court heard that he had two bottles of Jägermeister liqueur in his bag, one-half full.
According to the court statement from the Judiciary of Scotland, Russell lost his job at Delta, and the transatlantic flight had to be canceled.
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A Delta spokesperson said: "Delta was aware of this incident and removed the pilot from service while conducting a thorough investigation in coordination with Scottish authorities." At the time, Delta also apologized to the travelers affected.
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In the court sentencing, Sheriff (Judge) Alison Stirling told Russell: "Your bag was found to contain two bottles of Jägermeister, one of which was open and was just under half full. Because you were wearing a pilot's uniform, police were contacted. Officers arrived shortly thereafter. You gave your details to the police, and told them you were a captain with Delta Airlines."
The pilot admitted to drinking the previous evening but failing a breathalyzer test the morning he reported for work when questioned about the open bottle. After being detained, he also provided a blood sample that was over the limit.
According to the court, the legal limit in Scotland is 20 milligrams for piloting an aircraft and 50 milligrams for operating a vehicle. The legal limit for a pilot in the US is 0.04 blood alcohol content. According to US federal regulations, no one may serve as a crew member on a commercial aircraft within eight hours of consuming alcohol or while intoxicated.
According to the court, Russell was a person with alcohol use disorder in recovery who finished a treatment program following the incident and is currently in remission.
The court stated that he had no prior convictions in Britain and that he had two previous incidents of driving while intoxicated.
The court stated that the Boeing-767 captain's March 5 guilty plea to the charges "at the earliest opportunity" contributed to reducing his sentence from 15 months to 10 months.
"Your offence showed a high level of culpability and a high potential for serious harm to have been done," the sheriff continued, adding that the prison sentence was appropriate given the "serious nature" of the offense.
According to the court statement, Russell was "remorseful for the inconvenience" the flight cancellation caused to his employer and the passengers based on his account of the incident.
Russell's defense lawyer, Pamela Rodgers, told CNN that she could not comment further on the sentence because of confidentiality.
