A Delta captain was given 10 months in prison after showing 'reckless disregard' for safety by turning up intoxicated for a transatlantic flight
- A Delta pilot was double the legal alcohol limit when he reported for duty last June, prosecutors said.
- Airport security staff found two bottles of Jägermeister in his luggage.
A Delta Air Lines pilot was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Tuesday after reporting for duty while drunk, Scottish prosecutors announced.
Lawrence Russell, who is American, was due to fly a Boeing 767 from Edinburgh to New York's JFK Airport last June.
But after his carry-on was rejected by an X-ray machine, airport security officers found two bottles of Jägermeister in the Delta captain's luggage. One of them was half empty.
Russell was arrested after failing a breathalyzer test. He then gave a blood sample, which was more than double the alcohol limit for pilots.
His sample was at least 49mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, prosecutors said. The UK's legal limit for pilots is 20mg per 100ml.
The 63-year-old pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge of reporting for duty as a pilot while being impaired through alcohol.
According to The Guardian, the Edinburgh sheriff noted that Russell had two previous DUI convictions in the US.
Lynne Barrie, the local public prosecutor, said in a statement: "Lawrence Russell's conduct would have endangered many lives; the consequences could have been catastrophic."
"He showed a reckless disregard for the safety of his passengers and crew," she added. "The pilot of a commercial aircraft holds the lives of hundreds in his hands. He would have put all of them at serious risk."
A Delta representative told Business Insider: "Delta was aware of this incident and removed the pilot from service while conducting a thorough investigation in coordination with Scottish authorities."
Last July, a United Airlines pilot who showed up intoxicated for a transatlantic flight was given a six-month suspended sentence.
He was due to fly from Paris to Washington, DC, but was more than six times over the legal alcohol limit.