An American airline pilot was caught with alcohol in his system before he was due to fly a Boeing 767 from Edinburgh to New York, a court heard yesterday.
Lawrence Russell Jr, 63, was remanded in custody after he pleaded guilty to reporting for duty at Edinburgh Airport while impaired through drink or drugs.
The Delta Airlines captain was found to have two bottles of Jägermeister in his bag – one of them ‘half full’– when it was searched by security staff in June last year.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told police were contacted and Russell Jr was arrested following a failed breath test.
Prosecutor Matthew Millar told the court the pilot was due to captain a Boeing 767 flight to JFK Airport in New York when his luggage was selected for a security inspection at around 8am on June 16.
Lawrence Russell Jr, 63, was remanded in custody after he pleaded guilty to reporting for duty at Edinburgh Airport while impaired through drink or drugs
Prosecutor Matthew Millar told the court the pilot was due to captain a Boeing 767 flight New York when his luggage was inspected (stock image)
Mr Millar said the airport security staff ‘noted Mr Russell was wearing a pilot uniform, a lanyard around his neck and a Delta Airline crew pass’.
The pilot, from Georgia in the US, was ‘identified as the owner of the bag’ and when the luggage was searched the bottles of Jägermeister were found.
The court was told one of the bottles of alcohol found in the bag had been opened and was ‘half full’. Mr Millar said: ‘Given that Mr Russell was wearing a pilot uniform the police were contacted.
‘Mr Russell identified himself to the constables and said he was the captain of the aircraft.’
The pilot provided police with a sample of breath at around 9.30am and he was subsequently arrested and taken to Livingston police station where he provided a sample of blood. The court heard that the alcohol level in the airline pilot’s blood sample was ‘not less than 49mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood’.
The legal limit is 20mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.
The fiscal depute told the court that when Russell Jr was cautioned and charged he told officers: ‘I’m terrified.’
Lawyer Pamela Rogers, defending, provided the court with a medical report of the treatment Russell Jr has been receiving for his alcoholism and said he was ‘under no illusion’ about the seriousness of the offence.
Russell was due to captain a flight from Edinburgh Airport (pictured) to JFK Airport in New York when his luggage was selected for a security inspection at around 8am on June 16, the court heard
Sheriff Alison Stirling remanded Russell Jr in custody and deferred sentence for the preparation of reports to later this month.
Russell Jr pleaded guilty to performing an aviation function at a time when his ability to perform the function was impaired because of drink or drugs and he reported for duty as a pilot and captain of a Boeing 767 where the proportion of alcohol was not less than 49mg in 100ml of blood at Edinburgh Airport on June 16 last year.
Following the pilot’s arrest, the flight from Edinburgh to New York was cancelled and Delta Airlines confirmed that the passengers were helped with their travel plans.
Delta Airlines has been contacted for comment.
