Pilots in alcohol case 'able to walk'

MIAMI - Two former America West pilots charged with operating a passenger plane while drunk may have smelled of and consumed alcohol but they could still walk and see, say their lawyers.

Pilots Christopher Hughes and Thomas Cloyd were hauled off an Airbus 319 full of passengers in Miami on July 1, 2002.

They were in the cockpit as the plane was towed before take-off from Miami International Airport on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona.

But after a security screener reported the pilots reeked of alcohol, air traffic controllers ordered the plane back to the gate.

Police said Cloyd's blood-alcohol reading was 0.091 and Hughes' was 0.084. Florida law assumes a vehicle operator, including the operator of a plane, to be drunk if the blood alcohol level is 0.08 or higher.

The pair had played pool at a bar until 5am before the 10.30am flight and consumed nearly 22 pints of beer between them - after earlier sharing a bottle of wine with two flight attendants, Assistant State Attorney Deisy Rodriguez told jurors in opening statements at their trial.

Federal Aviation Administration rules bar pilots from consuming alcohol for eight hours before a flight.

She said Cloyd and Hughes acted negligently and endangered the 124 passengers and three flight attendants on board the plane.

Defence lawyers said the pilots should not be convicted because they were not "operating" the plane at the time in question.

The aircraft was being towed and the driver of the tug truck had control of the aircraft. "They couldn't endanger anyone as long as they were connected to that tug," said Cloyd's lawyer, Dan Foodman.

The fact that the pair had consumed alcohol before the flight and the fact that they smelled of alcohol did not mean they were impaired.

"Mr Hughes was able to see, hear, walk, talk, etcetera," lawyer James Rubin said of his client.

If convicted, pilot Cloyd and co-pilot Hughes could face up to five years in prison.

America West fired them shortly after their arrest and their pilots' licences were revoked.

- REUTERS