Drunk pilot arrested!
From the Union, Nevada City.
Cops: Man flying drunk / Pilot's blood-alcohol level at .28 percent, officers say
By Doug Mattson - Fri, Sep 7, 2001
An unannounced landing by a drunken pilot forced a firefighting aircraft to suddenly change course at the Nevada County Airport Thursday, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Harper C. McKee, 50, of Grants Pass, Ore., was arrested on suspicion of operating an aircraft while intoxicated after a choppy landing in his single-engine Cessna plane, Undersheriff John Trauner said.
A breath test showed McKee had a blood-alcohol concentration of .28 percent, nearly three times the legal limit for motorists, Trauner said. (The current US legal limit is 0.08)
The limit for pilots is .04 percent, said Ray DiLorenzo, who made the defensive maneuver to avoid McKee's plane.
At about 1:45 p.m., DiLorenzo, an air attack pilot for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was returning to the airport from a pair of fires with CDF Battalion Chief Ken Hughes.
As he approached the landing strip, DiLorenzo saw the Cessna also approach without the pilot making a required radio announcement. DiLorenzo called to the pilot three times by radio, but he didn't respond, DiLorenzo said.
With the planes about 500 feet apart and the CDF plane 300 feet from the ground, DiLorenzo aborted his landing, gained altitude and circled the airport before trying again.
The Cessna, meanwhile, landed roughly, bouncing at least three times while off-center on the landing strip, the Sheriff's Office said. McKee then drove his plane onto the helicopter pad, which is a dead end, before he turned around and sought a parking spot.
Hughes, soon after landing, quickly drove a CDF vehicle to meet with McKee.
"I intended to bring some safety issues to his attention," Hughes said. "That's why I went to see him, and he was seriously snockered."
He and DiLorenzo often approach the landing strip from the opposite end of the airport. Had they this time, according to Hughes, a head-on collision could have occurred.
"It could've been disastrous," he said.
Airport Manager Gary Petersen said he's only seen two cases of drunken flying in 25 years of working at airports. On Thursday, he returned from lunch to find upset co-workers. He later saw McKee stumble as he talked with sheriff's officers.
"They literally had to catch him because he almost fell over during the field-sobriety test," Petersen said.
McKee was booked into Wayne Brown Correctional Facility on $1,053 bail, a correctional officer said. The Federal Aviation Administration will also investigate the incident, the Sheriff's Office reported.