Delta Pilot Jailed For Alcohol Incident, Expects To Get Job Back After He’s Out

A tipsy Delta Air Lines pilot who tried to board his flight with a half-empty bottle of Jagermeister in his carry-on will spend the next 10 months in a Scottish prison, but he expects to be back on the flight deck after he gets out of jail. The New York Times is reporting Sheriff Alison Stirling, who sentenced Lawrence B. Russell in Sheriff Court on Tuesday, noted that Russell has been supported through rehab by the airline and is still getting half pay while on disability leave.

After jail, she said, he plans to apply to get his medical back (he can do that on June 16 of this year) and go back to the airline. "Your employer has been very supportive," Sheriff Stirling said during sentencing. Delta didn't comment to the Times on whether Russell has a future with the airline.

Russell, 63, was to help fly a Boeing 767 from Edinburgh to JFK last June 16. When he went through security, agents found liquid in his bag, the half bottle of Jagermeister and a full one and sniffed alcohol on his breath. Russell, from Fulton County, Georgia, was prevented from boarding the flight and arrested.

He later admitted to drinking the night before and blew 0.049 on a breath test, just under the 0.05 driving limit, but more than double the 0.020 limit for pilots. After the episode, he was diagnosed with severe alcohol use disorder and went through a recovery program in Georgia. Sheriff Stirling acknowledged all that but still sent him to prison. "Custody is the only appropriate disposal, having regard to the serious nature of your offending," the Times quoted her as saying.