"Prosecutor says AAL pilot was drunk"

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Prosecutor says pilot was drunk
United Press International


A pilot scheduled to fly a trans-Atlantic flight showed up to work with more
than six times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, a British prosecutor
said.

When American James Yates, 46, went to enter a Manchester Airport flight
crew security gate in his American Airlines pilot's uniform, he couldn't
find his identification security pass. Security staff said they smelled
alcohol and called police, Prosecutor Martin Walsh told jurors in
Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, IC Liverpool reported.

Yates, who is from Ohio, is a first officer with the airline and was one of
three pilots at the 10:30 a.m. flight to Chicago with 181 passengers on
board on Feb. 11, 2006, Walsh said. 

Martin told jurors that once the pilot was at the police station, a doctor
took his blood for testing.

"He was approaching 6 1/2 times the legal limit for flying an aircraft,"
Walsh said, IC Liverpool reported.

IC Liverpool reported that Yates has said he did not intend to be part of
the crew that day and that he only went to work to tell his captain that he
was sick and unable to fly.

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