United Airlines pilot given suspended prison sentence after showing up for flight ‘staggering drunk’
‘His eyes were glassy, and his mouth pasty’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A United Airlines pilot was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence after he showed up “staggering” drunk despite claiming he had only had two glasses of wine the night before.
The pilot, an American who was identified in the press as Henry W, turned up to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, France for a transatlantic flight on Sunday, but police said he was “showing signs of obvious drunkenness”, The Local reported.
“He was staggering slightly, his eyes were glassy, and his mouth pasty,” a police officer told a Paris court on Tuesday after Sunday’s incident.
A blood test showed the 63-year-old pilot was more than six times over the legal alcohol limit for pilots in Europe, and more than three times over the Federal Aviation Authority’s alcohol limit. He was hit with a 4,500 euro fine, a six-month suspended prison sentence and lost his pilot’s licence for a year.
The pilot‘s planned route would have seen him fly 267 passengers to Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia, had he not been prevented from working. However, the pilot claimed that he had had just two glasses of wine the night before.
A French judge told the pilot “there could have been a plane crash — you put 267 passengers at risk”, adding that the testimony of officers made her doubt his claims.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority. We hold all our employees to the highest standards and have a strict no-tolerance policy for alcohol,” a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. “This employee was immediately removed from service and we are fully cooperating with local authorities.”
United has attempted to tackle incidents nvolvcing alcohol and its crew – instructing staff that they must not drink alcohol for 12 hours prior to a flight in what the airline described as its “bottle to throttle” policy.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments