Southwest pilot arrested on a DUI charge while making preparations in the cockpit

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Police at a Georgia airport arrested an airline pilot on a DUI charge as he was making pre-flight checks aboard a Southwest Airlines flight with bloodshot eyes and reeking of what smelled like alcohol, according to a police report.

Passengers had boarded the Southwest Airlines flight from Savannah to Chicago and were awaiting takeoff Wednesday morning when police boarded the plane and took the pilot away in handcuffs.

Officers tracked down the 52-year-old pilot after an airport security officer reported that he “smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated” while checking in at a flight crew screening lane Wednesday morning, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

An officer found the pilot “seated in the cockpit performing pre-flight checks,” the incident report by airport police said. It said the pilot gave off ”a strong odor of what seemed to be alcohol” and had “bloodshot, watery eyes and a flushed complexion.”

Police reported that the pilot said the odor came from nicotine patches. He told an officer that he had “a few light beers” to drink the night before.

The pilot was arrested after taking a field sobriety test that showed he had trouble staying balanced and other signs of intoxication, the police report said. He was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence after refusing a blood-alcohol test.

Southwest said in a statement that the pilot “has been removed from duty.”

“Customers were accommodated on other flights and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans,” the airline’s statement said.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibit pilots from flying within eight hours of consuming any amount of alcohol. Pilots also can’t fly if their blood alcohol concentration is 0.04 or higher. That’s half the legal limit for driving a car in Georgia.

The pilot was booked at the Chatham County jail in Savannah and released on a $3,500 bond. A phone number listed for him in New Hampshire was not in service Thursday. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney.

Russ Bynum, The Associated Press