8 months for drunk pilot sends ‘clear message’

‘He has been thoroughly shamed’

CALGARY • An airline pilot who was so drunk he appeared to pass out in the cockpit has been sentenced to eight months in jail, a punishment the prosecutor says will send a strong message to the profession.

“It gives a message to the pilots across Canada, and as she said across the world, that if you fly impaired then you’re going to meet a jail sentence,” Crown lawyer Rose Greenwood said, of Judge Anne Brown’s ruling. “I think eight months is a pretty clear message.”

With a dearth of Canadian cases to consider, the judge said she looked at cases in the United States, the U.K. and Australia for guidance in arriving at an appropriate sentence for Miroslav Gronych.

Brown said there were mitigating factors in his sentencing, including his remorsefulness and the fact he has sought help for his alcohol addiction, both before and after the offence.

Another factor, she said, was the high level of public scrutiny he has endured as a result of the Dec. 31 incident. “He has been thoroughly shamed, especially in Canada, where he has been working, and at home in Slovakia.”

Gronych, 37, pleaded guilty last month to having care and control of a Sunwing Airlines aircraft while he had more than the legal amount of alcohol in his system in the incident.

Greenwood told court that a breath sample provided by Gronych hours after he was supposed to pilot the flight leaving Calgary at 7 a.m., showed a blood-alcohol level at nearly three and a half times the legal driving limit.

She said a maid who cleaned the pilot’s room at the Delta Airport Hotel found an empty 26-ounce vodka bottle.

“Mr. Gronych chose to consume an incredible amount of alcohol,” Greenwood said.

She said he arrived in Calgary shortly before 1 a.m. and was to return to the airport at 6 a.m. for a flight departing an hour later.

When he failed to show, the first officer contacted Sunwing’s operations control centre, which got in touch with the pilot.

Gronych arrived at the departure gate at 7:05 a.m., five minutes after the flight was to have departed.

The defence had asked for a three- to six-month sentence while the Crown asked the judge to give Gronych one year in jail.

The court heard that the pilot, who is married and has two young children, has lost his job.

He addressed the court at his sentencing hearing last month, tearfully recounting how becoming a pilot was a childhood dream.

“I can’t even describe how ashamed I am,” he said in a soft voice.

He said the case, which made headlines around the world, has taken a toll on his family.

“My kids will be punished for my mistakes,” he said.

In handing down the sentence, Brown said it is likely Gronych will never work again as a pilot.

In ordering Gronych, who was in Canada on a work visa and will be returned to his native Slovakia when he completes his sentence, to serve a one-year flying prohibition, Brown said publicity about the case weighed in his favour.

Greenwood had sought the maximum three-year flying Miroslav Gronych was removed from a Mexico-bound Sunwing aircraft at Calgary airport. He will be sent back to his native Slovakia after completing his jail sentence. prohibition. But Brown agreed with defence lawyer Susan Karpa that a one-year order was sufficient.

“On the specific facts of Mr. Gronych’s case, the maximum is not warranted,” the judge said.

“He did not engage the aircraft in movement, left the flight deck when requested to, has taken some steps towards rehabilitation and is unlikely to fly as a pilot in the future.”

Because Gronych was taken into custody at the time of his plea, he will have seven months and a week left to serve.

Members of a flight crew are prohibited under Canadian aviation regulations from working within eight hours of consuming alcohol or while under the influence of alcohol.

Sunwing has said it has a zero-tolerance policy on crew members consuming alcohol within 12 hours of going on duty.