Flying Drunk

An American pilot has pleaded guilty to being over the alcohol limit as he prepared to take off from Heathrow Airport in London, England. “Erwin Washington, 51, from Lakewood, Colorado, was arrested in November last year on a flight that was due to leave Heathrow Airport. A breath test showed Washington was more than three times the permitted limit to fly a plane. The United Airlines pilot will be sentenced on 5 February at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in west London. Washington was due to captain a Boeing 767 bound for Chicago with 124 passengers and 11 crew members on board on 9 November last year. The plane’s departure was imminent when a colleague smelled alcohol on his breath. Police arrived and arrested him. The flight was subsequently cancelled and passengers were put on other planes.”