The two pilots were preparing to fly from Scotland to New Jersey on Saturday, and suspicion by the police might land them in court.
Advertisement
Two airline pilots have appeared in court accused of trying to board a flight from Scotland to the USA while under the influence of alcohol. Licona reportedly worked in Military Intelligence for the National Guard and has been a flight instructor, while Grebenc’s Linked In page notes Air Force and Air Force Reserve experience.
And, ironically, Grebenc boasts on his LinkedIn of “3200+ hours of accident and Incident-free flying in high-performance fixed-wing aircraft”.
Grebenc is believed to be from Port Collins, Colorado.
The men – identified in court documents as United Airlines pilots Carlos Roberto Licona, 46, of Humble, Texas, and Paul Brady Grebenc, 35, of Columbus, Miss. – appeared in Paisley Sheriff Court on charges that they violated a section of Britain’s Railways and Transport Safety Act that says pilot can’t exceed a blood-alcohol level of.02.
Source said: “Concerns were raised and police were called”.
According to BBC, Police Scotland said that the pilots are facing the offences of ruling out the Railways and Transport/Safety Act 2003 (Section 93) which clearly mentions “carrying out pilot function or activity while exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol”.
For pilots, the limit of alcohol in the case of breath is nine micrograms of alcohol in 100 milliliters, according to the Act.
Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were arrested on Monday July 18 before they were due to take off on the Air Transat flight from Glasgow Airport.
They made no plea or declaration when they appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court and were asked to surrender their passports.
“We are co-operating with the authorities and will conduct our own investigation as well”.
A spokesman said the safety of the company’s customers and crew is its “highest priority”.
No future court dates have been set.
Advertisement
The Air Force has been contacted for comment.
