Jailed, pilot who tried to f ly jet to US while 7 times over the limit
Breathalysed as he sat in cockpit ready to take off
A PILOT who was seven times the aviation alcohol limit as he prepared to fly a plane from Scotland to the US has been jailed for ten months.
Carlos Licona was minutes from taking the controls of a United Airlines flight to Newark, New Jersey, when police boarded the Boeing 757 and breathalysed him.
The first officer was spotted by Glasgow Airport staff, who smelt alcohol on his breath as he passed through security checks ahead of the early morning flight on August 27 last year.
Police were contacted and went to the runway, hauling Licona, 45, out of the cockpit of the aircraft he was set to co-pilot in front of 72 of the 144 passengers who had taken their seats.
Licona, of Humble, Texas, gave a breath-test reading of 63 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath – seven times the 9 mcg drink-fly limit. He was taken to Helen Street police office in Govan, Glasgow, where hours later he gave a blood sample that showed he was still two-and-a-half times the 20mcg blood alcohol level.
Meanwhile, the plane had insufficient crew for the 3,000-mile trip, leaving passengers with a nine-hour delay to their journey.
In an attempt to save himself Licona told police he had ‘a few beers with lunch’ and ‘a few with dinner’ the day before. But in reality he and a colleague had stayed up the night before, downing drinks, in breach of the airline’s rules on drinking before flying.
Details of the case emerged yesterday at Paisley Sheriff Court when Licona pleaded guilty over the incident.
Fiscal depute Scot Dignan said Licona had arrived in Scotland the day before and spent the evening in a hotel before returning to the airport the next morning. He added: ‘As [United Airlines] cabin crew and pilots passed through the body scanners the alarms activated.
‘While conducting a search [a security officer] could detect the clear smell of alcohol from the pilot’s breath.
‘Flight deck and cabin crew were chewing gum, a sign they may have been trying to hide the smell of alcohol.’
Licona admitted having 48 mcg of alcohol in 100ml of blood while he ‘did perform an activity ancillary to an aviation function’.
Defence counsel Gordon Jackson, QC, asked Sheriff David Pender to spare Licona jail.
He said: ‘He has a drink problem. What he has done, when he went back to the US, has been to address his use of alcohol.’
Sheriff Pender left the bench for half an hour to decide how to deal with Licona, who laughed and joked with his wife as he waited to learn his fate.
But his joy turned to terror as he was told he was being jailed, and he looked shell-shocked as he was led away in handcuffs.
Delivering the sentence – reduced from 15 months because Licona admitted his guilt – Sheriff Pender said: ‘You were in a very responsible position of trust – 144 passengers were relying on you and the other pilots to keep them safe. If called upon to do your duties there must have been a question mark over whether or not you could do them properly.
‘You state that you’ve had a dependency on alcohol for many years, but have taken no steps to deal with it until after this incident.
‘You and one of your colleagues continued to drink after the rest of your colleagues had gone to bed, in the knowledge you breached your employer’s eight-hour guidelines on drinking before your shift.’
‘144 passengers were relying on you’