Drunk Pilot Pulled From Plane On Flight From Buffalo

Flying has its own risks involved.  The last thing you'd expect is your pilot to be the biggest one.  But that was the case this morning with a pilot in Buffalo.

When you buy a ticket to travel on a plane, you're counting on the professionals behind the controls to get you where you need to go safely.  Imagine how horrified you would be to find out that the pilot that was going to fly you to Florida was actually drunk.

That's what happened this morning on a Jet Blue flight that was headed to Fort Lauderdale.  The story comes from a spokesperson for the NFTA according to WIVB.  Flight number 2465 was scheduled to leave Buffalo for Fort Lauderdale at 6:15 a.m. but was held up more than four hours.  It finally took off at 10:25 a.m. and landed safely in Florida at 1:11 p.m.

The man was pulled off the plane after one of the pilots noticed that his co-pilot was impaired. He was given a breathalyzer test and was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.17%.  That is two times over the limit to drive a motor vehicle here in New York State.  The inebriated pilot was identified as James Clifton, 52, of Orlando.

I was surprised to see that the rules for pilots on Jet Blue according to their rulebook, are not allowed to use alcohol within eight hours of a flight and may not have a blood alcohol content above 0.04%.

Why isn't it 0.00%?

I know I'm a pretty paranoid flyer as it is.  But this isn't going to make it any easier.  Good thing for the co-pilot who not only noticed it, but then said something.