By: Megan Palera
mpalera@klkntv.com
Too drunk to fly, that's what an airport bus driver in Omaha says he saw this morning, before he turned the pilot in.
A commuter jet stuck on the tarmac Thursday after the Frontier Airlines flight from Omaha to Milwaukee, which was supposed to leave at 6 a.m., was held at the gate for two hours because the pilot was allegedly too drunk to fly.
In fact, it was the hotel shuttle driver that noticed something was obviously wrong. He called police and the pilot was stopped just before security, before he ever reached the plane.
"There were four police officers with the pilot, escorting him away," said one of the passengers. The pilot was never arrested, but the Omaha Airport Director says police questioned the pilot, determined he was in fact inebriated, and turned him over to airline officials.
Another pilot had to be called in and in the meantime, passengers were not left in the dark about what was really happening. "He sort of confirmed without exactly saying so much that the guy was not fit to fly, he was drunk," said another passenger.
FAA policy called "bottle to throttle" is strict. There is to be no flying within eight hours of consuming alcohol. The legal blood alcohol limit for flying is .04.
Since 2000, there have been 134 cases of allegedly drunk pilots. No word yet on what consequences the pilot could face.
