Airline Pilot Faces Drunkenness Charge
A veteran Virgin Atlantic Airways pilot was jailed, facing a charge that he showed up drunk to fly a planeload of almost 400 passengers to London.
The airline said Richard George Harwell, 55, an American living in England, had a spotless record during 14 years at Virgin.
Police at Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling seized Harwell aboard Virgin Atlantic Flight 22 on Friday night after being summoned by the Transportation Security Administration, whose screeners had detected alcohol on Harwell’s breath.
The flight was canceled, its 383 passengers put up in hotels.
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