Drunk Delta pilot thrown in jail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...6-months.html#
Drunk pilot didn't know where he was meant to be flying his plane

By Daily Mail Reporter
24th January 2011

A pilot who turned up so drunk at Heathrow that he didn't know where he
was supposed to fly his transatlantic passenger plane has been jailed
for six months.

George La Perle was stopped by security officers because he was reeking
of alcohol, Isleworth Crown Court was told.

He told them he had just had a few beers the previous evening and that
he was scheduled to fly to New York. His destination was in fact
Detroit.

The 49-year-old was found to have four and a half times the legal amount
of alcohol for pilots in his blood. He also exceeded the less strict
limits for driving a car.

First Officer Le Perle, of Delta Airlines, who has 20 years flying
experience, was due to be one of three pilots in the cockpit of the
Boeing 767, with 240 passengers on board, the court was told.

Heidi Stonecliffe, prosecuting, said security staff stopped La Perle at
around 8.30am on November 1 last year. There could have been
'potentially disastrous consequences', she added.

Flying regulations allow pilots a maximum of 20 milligrams of alcohol
per 100 millilitres of blood - La Perle was found to have 89.

It was later discovered that La Perle, from Boston, U.S., was an
alcoholic. He pleaded guilty to performing an aviation function with
excess alcohol.

Defence counsel Neil Fitzgibbon said La Perle felt deep remorse.

Jailing him on Friday, Judge Phillip Matthews said: 'You knew that you
were about to co-pilot a Boeing 767 across the Atlantic with all that
entails, yet you had consumed alcohol which, at the time that you
arrived at Heathrow Airport, was showing that you were four times over
the prescribed aviation limit.

'The consequences for the passengers on that plane, if you had piloted
for any stage of that journey, which was a distinct possibility bearing
in mind that is what you were employed to do, were potentially
catastrophic.'