Two airline pilots are due to appear in court after being arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol as they prepared to fly a passenger jet from Scotland to the US.
Concerns were raised over their condition as the United Airlines UA162 flight to Newark, New Jersey, was being prepared for departure at Glasgow Airport on Saturday morning.
The incident comes six weeks after two Canadian pilots with Air Transat were arrested at the same airport on suspicion of being “impaired through alcohol”.
Police said the two men held on Saturday, who are aged 35 and 45, were detained in police custody. They are expected to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court on Monday.
The flight, carrying 141 passengers, eventually took off on Saturday evening after a delay of nearly 10 hours with a new crew on board.
It is understood the men are first officers and that the plane’s captain was not involved.
Frustrated passengers took to social media to ask for an explanation for the long delay after spotting police in the tunnel leading to the Boeing 757-200.
Both men have been suspended by United Airlines which apologised to passengers for the inconvenience. The airline will also carry out its own internal inquiry.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: "We can confirm that two men aged 35 and 45 have been arrested and are presently detained in police custody in connection with alleged offences under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, Section 93."
Last month, two Canadian pilots appeared in the same court charged over being "impaired through alcohol" as they prepared to fly a passenger jet from Glasgow to Toronto.
Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were arrested on July 18.
The men were remanded in custody when they first appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court, charged under the same section of the same Act.
At a second hearing at the same court, they were granted bail on condition that they surrendered their passports.
Section 93 states: "A person commits an offence if he performs an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit, or he carries out an activity which is ancillary to an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit."
The alcohol limit for pilots is nine micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The drink-drive limit in Scotland is 22 micrograms, and in England it is 35 micrograms.
(culled from www.telegraph.co.uk)
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