Pilots’ Travel Limited Pending Sobriety Trial
Two America West pilots accused of being drunk when they took the controls of a jetliner last month were ordered to stay in Florida or at their Arizona homes pending court hearings in Miami.
Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes had asked Circuit Judge David Young for permission to travel while awaiting their Oct. 21 trial. The judge instead ordered them to surrender their passports, to go nowhere except home or court, and to report to the state by telephone once a week.
Hughes, 41, and Cloyd, 44, have pleaded not guilty to charges of operating an aircraft under the influence and operating a motor vehicle under the influence. Prosecutors say the pilots pulled the Phoenix-bound jet out of the gate at the Miami airport July 1 but were ordered back after security personnel said they had smelled alcohol.
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