Two Pilots Sent to Prison for Drunkenness
Source: Media Article
Date: Jul 22, 2005
Source: Associated Press
Author: John Pain
MIAMI — Two airline pilots who got behind the controls after a night of
heavy drinking at a sports bar have been sentenced to prison by a judge
who didn't hide his disdain, saying "What were you thinking of?"
Thomas Cloyd, 47, of Peoria, Ariz., and co-pilot Christopher Hughes,
44, of Leander, Texas, were drunk when they settled into the cockpit of
a Phoenix-bound America West jetliner in 2002. They were arrested
before the plane took off but after it had pushed away from the gate.
They were fired and found guilty June 8 of operating an aircraft while drunk.
Cloyd was sentenced to five years in prison. Circuit Judge David Young
said he had no sympathy for Cloyd, who had been on probation for an
alcohol-related offense just months before his arrest.
Hughes was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years behind bars.
Prosecutors had recommended four years for Cloyd and three for Hughes,
sentences that defense attorneys said were too harsh because no one got
hurt.
The judge reprimanded both men: "What you did was absolutely wrong," Young said.
The pilots had been at the bar up until about six hours before their
departure time; federal rules say pilots cannot drink in the eight
hours before a flight. Police stepped in after screeners smelled
alcohol on their breath.
Tested hours later, their blood-alcohol levels were above Florida's
0.08 percent limit for drunken driving, which includes aircraft,
according to testimony. Their levels were probably much higher when
they were in the cockpit, the experts said.
Testimony showed that Cloyd and Hughes ran up a $122 tab and drank
seven 34-ounce glasses and seven 16-ounce glasses of beer over six
hours at the bar. At dinner before that, they had wine and Cloyd drank
a martini, prosecutors said.
The pilots had argued at trial that they were not drunk. The also
contended they were not in control of their Airbus 319 carrying 117
passengers and crew because it was being towed by a ground crew when
police ordered the jet back to the gate.
Prosecutor Hillah Katz called that argument "an insult."
At the sentencing, the pilots' attorneys said their clients had taken
steps to fight their alcoholism and asked the judge to be lenient.
Cloyd's lawyer said the pilot was having marital problems before his
arrest and was still distraught by the death of his father in a plane
crash years earlier.
Hughes' family declined to comment while leaving the courthouse. When
reporters asked Cloyd's wife, Debbie, what she thought of the sentence,
she would only say: "Haven't you people had enough?"