'Drunk' pilot removed from airplane with BAC twice the legal limit
A JetBlue pilot was yanked out of a cockpit minutes before takeoff from an upstate New York airport Wednesday and found to have a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit to fly, according to reports.
James Clifton, 52, took a Breathalyzer after cops removed him from the Fort Lauderdale-bound plane out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesperson toldThe Orlando, Fla., resident was allegedly visibly tipsy when he went through security before boarding the plane, leading Transportation Security Administration agents to notify cops, the report said.
The pilot, who had a registered firearm he was taking through the gates, “seemed ‘off'” to TSA workers, according to a partially redacted NFTA police report obtained by The Post.Clifton denied drinking the morning before the flight, but eventually admitted he had as many as “7-8” drunks at a bar the previous night, the police report stated.
A coworker who had joined the pilot for dinner told cops that Clifton didn’t answer his phone or show up Wednesday morning when a shuttle arrived at their hotel to take them to the airport Wednesday morning, the police report said. He later took an Uber to the airport, according to the statement cited in the report.
His blood alcohol content was 0.17 percent, which is twice the 0.08-percent limit to drive a car and four times the 0.04-percent BAC limit placed on pilots under Federal Aviation Administration rules, according to
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