Drunk Delta Air Lines Pilot Carrying Jägermeister in Luggage Jailed for 10 Months
A court in Scotland sentenced an American pilot to 10 months in jail Tuesday after he attempted to captain a transatlantic Delta Air Lines flight to New York while drunk last year.
Lawrence Russell Jr., 63, pleaded guilty to reporting for duty as a pilot while impaired through alcohol for a flight from Edinburgh International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 16, 2023. A blood test showed that Russell was almost two and a half times over the limit when he arrived to take control of the Boeing 767 aircraft.
In sentencing, Sheriff Alison Stirling (a “sheriff” is a type of judge in the Scottish judicial system) said Russell had turned up at the airport in Edinburgh on the morning of the flight wearing his pilot’s uniform and a Delta lanyard. Russell’s bag was rejected when it went through X-ray screening due to the amount of liquids inside.