Delta pilot sentenced for being over alcohol limit before flight

A Delta Air Lines captain from Georgia has been sentenced to 10 months in jail following his arrest last year in Scotland for being twice the legal limit for alcohol for pilots before reporting for duty for a transatlantic flight.

Lawrence Russell, 63, was detained at Edinburgh Airport last June 16 before he was scheduled to fly a Boeing 767 from the Scottish capital city to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

Russell, who pleaded guilty to reporting for duty as pilot while being impaired by alcohol, was sentenced Tuesday in Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

“Lawrence Russell’s conduct would have endangered many lives; the consequences could have been catastrophic,” Lynne Barrie, a local prosecutor, said in a news release. “He showed a reckless disregard for the safety of his passengers and crew. The pilot of a commercial aircraft holds the lives of hundreds in his hands. He would have put all of them at serious risk.

“This conviction should send the message that crimes of this nature will be robustly dealt with,” Barrie said.

According to the release, Russell was detained when his luggage failed to clear the airport’s security screening and security personnel found two bottles of Jägermeister. One of the bottles had been opened and was described as “half full.”

A message seeking comment from Delta was not immediately returned. Last summer, Delta said Russell had been “removed from service pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Russell, in uniform and wearing a Delta lanyard, was stopped about a half-hour before the flight’s scheduled departure, the release said. At the time of his arrest, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Russell was taken into custody under the UK’s Railways and Transport Safety Act of 2003.

Among other regulations, that law declares a pilot unfit for duty when impaired by alcohol or drugs at a 0.02% blood-alcohol content — lower than the 0.08% level that makes it illegal to drive in the U.S.

Delta canceled the flight as a result and passengers were rebooked on other departures.

The airline said last year it has no tolerance for violation of its alcohol policy, which it called among the strictest in the industry.

The prosecution said Tuesday Russell failed a breath and blood alcohol tests. His blood test revealed “not less than 49 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milligrams of blood,” the release said, exceeding the 20-milligram limit.

The BBC reported Tuesday that Russell had had two previous convictions in the U.S. for driving under the influence. Russell’s defense attorney also said he had completed alcohol rehab and not had a drink in 277 days, the BBC reported.

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this report.)