AirTran Airways fires pilot charged with intoxication in Vegas
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS - AirTran Airways has fired a pilot who was arrested and charged with operating an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol.
A breath test found that pilot Oliver Paul Reason Jr. had a blood alcohol level of 0.091 when he was arrested Wednesday, according to a police report. The legal limit for driving in Nevada is 0.08, and federal regulations prohibit flying at 0.04 percent or higher.
After being released from the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday, Reason, 37, was flown to Atlanta, where company officials fired him for violating a policy against flying with a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.04 percent, said Tad Hutcheson, an airline spokesman.
"He won't be flying for AirTran Airways," Hutcheson said.
Reason did not return a message left at his home in Newnan, Ga., near Atlanta. The National Pilots Association, which represents AirTran pilots, would not comment on the case.
Reason could lose his pilot license if a Federal Aviation Administration investigation finds he violated regulations. Besides the blood-alcohol limit, federal rules also prohibit pilots from drinking alcohol less than eight hours before a flight.
Reason told officers he had not had a drink in about 10 hours, according to the arrest report.
Las Vegas police were called late Wednesday after a security checkpoint screener smelled alcohol on Reason's breath.
The pilot was checking in with the screener because Reason was part of a program allowing certain pilots to carry guns in the cockpit.
The officers escorted Reason from the plane. Police said Reason's breath smelled of alcohol, but the pilot was coherent and cooperative and did not appear impaired, according to the arrest report.