A pilot who allegedly passed out drunk in a plane cockpit at the Calgary airport faces two criminal charges.
The male pilot for Sunwing Airlines was found “severely impaired by alcohol” early Saturday morning, Calgary police said in a press release.
At the time of the incident, 99 passengers and five other flight crew were already on board. The plane’s crew noticed that he was acting oddly before he lost consciousness. Police allege the co-pilot found the captain passed out in the cockpit.
“Pilot charged with being impaired was 3 times the legal limit, say Calgary police. They found him slumped over in the seat. He was the captain,” Sgt. Paul Stacey told a news conference.
The 737 800 Series aircraft was scheduled to fly to Regina and Winnipeg, with a final destination of Cancun, Mexico.
Sunwing statement:
Dear Customers,
We would like to take the opportunity to advise you of an incident that occurred earlier this morning.
We can confirm that shortly before 7 a.m. local time, the gate agents, first officer and crew of Sunwing flight 595, departing from Calgary and destined for Cancun, determined that the Captain was unfit to fly and reported this accordingly. The Captain was immediately escorted off of the aircraft and the incident is now under investigation with local authorities. We are very appreciative of our crew’s diligence in handling this very unfortunate matter in accordance with procedures. We were able to secure a new Captain and are pleased to report that our customers are now en route to their destination after experiencing a minimal delay.
We are very apologetic for any upset that this has caused and would like to assure our customers that safety remains our utmost priority.