Posted on 07/21/2005 1:22:14 PM PDT by CAWats
Edited on 07/21/2005 1:36:02 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
A judge sentenced former America West pilot Thomas Cloyd to five years in prison Thursday for operating a plane while intoxicated. Co-pilot Christopher Hughes received two and a half years. Update soon.
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Updated June 8, 2005, 5:57 p.m. ET
MIAMI — "A Florida jury found former America West pilots Thomas Cloyd and Christopher Hughes guilty of operating a plane while intoxicated, even though the plane was never airborne.
The panel of six men arrived at their decision after about six hours of deliberation, which began Tuesday afternoon in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The two men bowed their heads as the verdicts were read aloud in the same courtroom where Ted Bundy was convicted of murder and O.J. Simpson was acquitted of road rage.
Prosecutors called 18 witnesses in the seven-day trial to show that the defendants reported to work after an all-night bender that ended less than five hours before they were due in the cockpit on July 1, 2002.
Jurors heard evidence that the two consumed about 28 pints of Sierra Nevada over six hours at Mr. Moe's cantina in Coconut Grove, Fla., returning to the Mayfair Hotel at about 5:30 a.m.
When they arrived for work at about 10 a.m. the following morning, Cloyd and Hughes may have had blood-alcohol levels as high as .15 and .137, respectively, according to one prosecution expert. Florida's legal limit is .08..."
Excerpt. Story at Court TV
Shouldn't that be FUI ?
Yes.
It really bothers me when I think about how many other terrible things these guys could have done, yet received a much lighter sentence. It's not like they will ever get the chance to fly a commercial airliner again, drunk or sober.
Stupid pilot behavior, Mod 1.
For Aviation Ping.
I think one of those guys is Glen Campbell's son-in-law.
Just try and think about it in terms of one UUI or even attempted manslaughter count for ever passenger that was going to be on that flight.
I have and it doesn't really change my view. The specific thing I am focusing on is intent and ability to commit the crime again. I am not aware that their intensions were to kill a bunch of people and unlike your average drunk driver, there's almost no chance these guys will ever again see the stick of another commercial airliner. Drunk drivers, even those without a license, have no problem finding a car to drive.
It was definitely negligent and certainly irresponsible, but 2 1/2 years for one pilot and 5 years for the other seems quite harsh when compared to so many of the light sentences violent criminals receive. If it were these two versus any two other common criminals, I would make sure the latter spent some time behind bars.
I will say this, if prison overcrowding were not a problem, I might not think as much of it. I just get pissed off when I hear about a violent crime committed by some punk who was only on the street because there was not enough room to keep in prison.
If we let the pilots fly drunk you would be pissed off hearing about the violent crash killing 184 people ...
Agreed, but you are incorrectly inferring that I want pilots to fly drunk. I never said they shouldn’t be punished, but I did say the punishment seemed harsh. I don't necessarily think they should have escaped doing time in prison, but I think the greater part of 7 1/2 man-years of prison space could be spent on someone who has actually done harm to others.
I didn't infer that you wanted them to fly drunk. OTHOH, your latest infers you take the libertarian approach of not punishing drunk pilots till they actually harm someone ...
The law decided to make an example of these guys.
No, they didn't kill anyone, but who knows if any of the many 'pilot error' commercial crashes involved prior use of alcohol or other 'meds'?
Did not John Denver pass in such a manner? I recall he was intoxicated when he crashed. But, that was a while ago, I could be mistaken.
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