American Airlines pilot who failed airside breath test is spared jail

May 8, 2019

American Airlines pilot, 62, who was marched from cockpit as he prepared to fly from Manchester to Philadelphia after security staff smelt alcohol on him is spared jail

David Copeland, 63, was drinking rum in his hotel room the night before flying
Copeland due to fly an American Airlines plane from Manchester to Philadelphia
An airport security worker said he could smell alcohol on Copeland’s breath
Copeland, who was already in the cockpit, was then taken off the plane on Feb 7

David Copeland, 62, (pictured outside Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court) was the captain of an American Airlines flight bound for Philadelphia, which was due to leave Manchester Airport on February 7

An alcoholic pilot has been spared jail after admitting being over the legal limit before a flight to the US.

David Copeland, 62, was the captain of an American Airlines flight bound for Philadelphia, which was due to leave Manchester Airport on February 7.

Police were alerted after a security worker said he could smell alcohol on Copeland’s breath as he went through checks.

Copeland, who was already in the cockpit, was then taken off the plane.

He said he had drunk alcohol 12 hours earlier, before failing an airside breath test.

He was then taken to a police station where he blew a reading of 27 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the limit for flying an aircraft being 20.

Copeland pleaded guilty to one count of performing an aviation function while impaired by drink at Manchester Magistrates’ Court last month.

Prosecutor Kelly Laverty opened the case.

She said he was scheduled to the captain of a flight from Manchester to Philadelphia on February 7.

However, she says as he went through security a worker ‘formed the impression he was under the influence of alcohol due to his demeanour and the smell of alcohol on his breath’.

She said he failed an air-side breath test and was taken to a police station where a blood test showed he had 27mg of alcohol, the limit being 20.

Henry Blackshaw, who is defending Mr Copeland said Mr Copeland is supported in court by his wife Bobby Copeland, an attorney from the American Airlines pilots union and the head of flight for American Airlines in Philadelphia.

Stock image showing an American Airlines plane at Philadelphia International Airport

He said to Judge Maurice Greene ‘what your honour may feel shines through from this is that the defendant has the support of his family, his local community and also the airline, who were his employers’.

The airline accepted alcohol consumption can be a medical problem, he added.

Mr Blackshaw said Copeland, who has just turned 63, has been happily married for 32 years and has two adult sons, both of whom are pilots.

Copeland is himself the son of a pilot, with his father serving his country, before moving into civil aviation.

Copeland obtained his basic pilots licence when he was 19 and when he was 23, obtained his commercial pilots licence, the court hears.

He has so far clocked up 27,000 flying miles.

Copeland was a ‘popular and well-respected captain with the crews that fly under him both in the cockpit and in the cabin’, Mr Blackshaw added.

Mr Blackshaw said Copeland landed in Manchester on a flight from Philadelphia on Tuesday, February 5.

He says Copeland felt ‘a little out of sorts’ during his two night stopover.

He slept in the day both on the 5th and the 6th, the day before the return journey.

That meant he wasn’t as sleepy the night before his return journey.

Mr Blackshaw said his client had a ‘modest’ amount of alcohol with dinner and then had some rum as a ‘night cap’, while staying up late to communicate with his wife in the US.

Copeland had ‘full regard’ for the eight hour ‘bottle to throttle’ rule – prohibiting consumption of any alcohol eight hours prior to flying – but says it is the combination of the alcohol at dinner and in the evening which must have led to him still being over the limit the following morning.

He said his colleagues in the cockpit had no concerns about him on the day.

‘We have to accept, that due to his responsibilities that this crosses the custody threshold.

‘However, your honour may take the view that given that taking everything into account, the amount to which he was over the limit and the positive and encouraging steps which have been taken since that you can suspend any sentence.’

Judge Maurice Greene told Copeland he was an experienced pilot and he must have drank ‘quite an amount’ to still be over the limit when he was tested.

‘This is a custody case, the issue is whether it can be suspended’ he said.

The judge said the limit for alcohol in a pilots’ system in the US is 40mg and he wouldn’t have committed an offence had this happened in the US.

He added he is an experienced pilot and should ‘know the rules in different territories’.

‘This is a serious offence because of the responsibility you hold as a commercial pilot,’ the judge told Copeland.

‘You hold lives of many people in your hands when you go onto that plane.

‘You don’t need me to tell you about the responsibility that you have. That’s why the courts must treat these offences very seriously indeed.’

‘I accept you complied with the eight hour rule and didn’t drink eight hours before the flight, but you obviously drank quite an amount for there still to be that level of alcohol in your blood at the time of the flight,’ Judge Greene said.

‘You were only just over the limit and there is evidence from your colleagues that they didn’t see any impairment. You are held in in extremely high regard both within your profession and outside it.

‘This is a blemish on your record, your reputation and your good name.

‘You have accepted you have a problem with alcohol.’

The judge said it is so serious that a custodial sentence must be passed, but that he has decided, in all the circumstances, he can suspend the sentence.

He was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, after admitting the charge of performing an aviation function while impaired by drink at an earlier hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that, since his arrest, he had been diagnosed with alcoholism.

He was undergoing a treatment programme for his alcohol issues, which had included spending 30 days in a residential unit and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings daily, the court was told.

Judge Greene said if Copeland successfully completed six to eight months of the programme he would be required to undergo a neuro-psychiatric evaluation to assess his fitness to fly.

‘I very much doubt you will commit any further offences,’ the judge added, before allowing Copeland to leave the dock.

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