Delta pilot jailed for being drunk while trying to fly plane to New York

A 63-year-old pilot has been convicted by a US court of coming to work drunk.

According to the Guardian, in June 2023, Delta Air Lines pilot Captain Lawrence Russell Junior was found to have two bottles of wine hidden in his hand luggage during a luggage search at Edinburgh Airport. , one of the bottles of wine was half empty.

After the alcohol bottle was recovered, Capt. Russell Junior was arrested and his tests showed 49 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, more than twice the limit allowed in the United States.

Russell was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, March 13, after pleading guilty to reporting drunkenness.

In sentencing the airline pilot to ten months in prison, Judge Alison Stirling said “punishment must be [and the] Protect the public”.

He also noted that the defendant had two earlier convictions for drink driving.

Early on June 16, 2023, Captain Russell was arranged to fly from Edinburgh to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on a Boeing 767 aircraft and was subsequently arrested by the police.

At a court hearing he pleaded guilty and admitted he was the owner of the bottle and that he was drunk at the time.

Defense lawyer Pamela Rodgers said her “remorseful” client was a recovering alcoholic who had not had a drink for 277 days and had completed the 12 steps of a recovery program.

Responding to the conviction, prosecutor Lynne Barrie said: “Lawrence Russell’s actions would have endangered the lives of many people; the consequences could have been catastrophic, according to The Guardian.

“He showed a reckless disregard for the safety of his passengers and crew. The pilot of a commercial aircraft had hundreds of lives at his fingertips. He would have put everyone at serious risk,” he said of the incident, reported by The Guardian reports.

He added: “This conviction should send the message that crimes of this nature will be dealt with harshly.”