Another account of today's hearing from a local newspaper:
Virgin Atlantic Pilot Charged With Boarding Plane Under The Influence
Dan Telvock
Dec 22, 2003 -- A Virgin Atlantic pilot pleaded not guilty today in Loudoun County General District Court to a charge of attempting to operate a jet from Dulles Airport while under the influence of alcohol.
[redacted], 55, of England, was released on a $25,000 bond under the condition that he would not leave the country. He is accused of boarding a flight while under the influence of alcohol, said Metropolitian Washington Airport Authority spokesman Tom Sullivan.
Sullivan said that at about 6:45 p.m. on Friday, an employee for the Transportation Security Administration contacted the airport authority after the employee allegedly smelled alcohol coming from [redacted] as he went through the security gate.
“So our police responded to the gate, entered the aircraft and spoke with the pilot,” Sullivan said. No passengers had yet boarded the Dulles-to-London flight.
Some basic tests were given to [redacted] and Sullivan said his responses gave police enough cause to detain him. Later that evening, he was charged and the case was sent to Loudoun County, where [redacted] has been held since Friday.
Although he lives in England, Sullivan said [redacted] is a U.S. citizen. Sullivan said he has not heard of any pilot being charged with such a crime in the six years he has worked for the airport authority.
A Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said [redacted] has flown for the company for 14 years with a strong employee record. The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses pilots, plans to conduct an investigation along with Loudoun authorities.
http://www.leesburg2day.com/current....=6&newsid=8232
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This article mentions that the pilot entered a plea of not guilty, a minor detail somehow missed in the earlier report.
About a year ago a Delta pilot encountered a somewhat similar situation, also in Virginia:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/...elta-pilot.htm
The police report of the incident is here:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/drunkpilot1.html
Apparently, the airport police failed to document a field sobriety test (touch your nose, walk a straight line etc.) so the pilot was acquitted of the state charges on technical grounds even though he blew a .07%:
http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0203/74030.html
Under federal law there are several technical errors that can render a breath test invalid:
(1) The 15 minute waiting period prior to a confirmation test is not observed.
(2) An air blank is not performed on the EBT before a confirmation test or the air blank doesn't result in a reading of 0.00
(3) The BAT does not sign the form as required by the regulations
(4) The BAT fails to note in the remarks section on the form that the employee failed the test or refused to sign.
(5) An EBT fails to print a confirmation test result
(6) The sequential test number or the alcohol concentration printed out is not the same as displayed on the EBT
(7) If an EBT fails an external calibration check, then every test result of 0.02 or above obtained on this particular device since the last valid external calibration check will be invalid.
(from:
http://www.aviationmedicine.com/DOTetohtest.htm )
Of course, this doesn't mean you're off the hook, but the test cannot be used as evidence.