Most commercial airline pilots recognize their planes must be very high to fly. But one United Airlines pilot apparently thought that rule also applied to him!
51-year-old Pilot Erwin Vermont Washington of Lakewood, Colorado, was arrested this week after it was determined he was too drunk to fly. British officers were called to United Airlines Flight 949, which was already full of passengers and just about to leave London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday afternoon. Washington was pulled from the trans-Atlantic flight to Chicago shortly before takeoff and was charged with having too much alcohol in his system. An alert crew member spotted Washington boarding the plane and reported that he looked obviously unable to operate an aircraft in his condition. British authorities boarded the plane and administered a breath test to Washington, which he failed. Once the pilot was taken into custody, the flight was canceled and the plane’s 124 passengers were moved to other flights.
