Drunk pilot preparing to fly from Edinburgh to New York

Ten months in prison was sentenced to an American, who was arrested before flying from Edinburgh to New York. 63-year-old pilot Lawrence Russell was checked by airport security officials on June 16th last year and found to be drunk. During the check, two bottles of alcohol were found in his hand luggage – one of which was half full. In the alcohol test submitted it was revealed that the governor of Delta Airlines had more than twice the alcohol from the legal limit – he had at least 49 mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that Russell had attended a alcohol rehabilitation program. As said in the trial, the 63-year-old on the day of his arrest, was to fly from Edinburgh airport to JFK Airport, New York. Defender Pamela Rodgers stated that her client was an alcoholic in recovery, that she was away from alcohol 277 days and that she had completed the rehabilitation program “12 Steps”. Rodgers also stated that her client had regretted his actions. Prosecutor Lynne Barrie, in turn, stated: “Lawrence Russell’s behavior would endanger many lives – the consequences could be devastating. He showed reckless disregard for passenger and crew safety. The pilot of a commercial aircraft holds in his hands the lives of hundreds of people. It would put all of them in serious danger.”