AirTran Pilot Charged With Drunkenness
An armed AirTran Airways pilot was charged with operating an aircraft under the influence after a federal screener at McCarran International Airport smelled alcohol on his breath, authorities said Thursday.
Las Vegas police arrested Oliver Paul Reason Jr., 37, in the cockpit of the AirTran plane shortly after he passed through a checkpoint Wednesday night, according to the Transportation Security Administration, police and the airline.
Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran Holdings Inc. issued a statement Thursday saying the passenger airline followed its procedures to ensure that the Atlanta-bound aircraft was held at the gate.
“The captain neither took command of the aircraft nor was the aircraft operated in any manner,” the airline said. The pilot has been suspended from his duties as a federal flight deck officer, which had allowed him to carry the firearm, the TSA said.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said that if it found that the pilot, who has worked for AirTran since 1994, was intoxicated on the job, he would be banned from flying.
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