Florida Can’t Prosecute Pilots Fired for Drinking, Judge Says

MIAMI — The state cannot prosecute two America West pilots who were fired for taking the controls of their jetliner after a night of heavy drinking, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Patricia Seitz said not only must the state drop charges of drunken operation of a jet against pilot Thomas Cloyd, 45, and co-pilot Christopher Hughes, 42, but the state cannot take any other action based on their arrests in July 2002.

The pilots’ blood-alcohol results were above the state drunkenness standard of 0.08% but below the federal criminal standard of 0.10%.

Seitz said the federal government has come to dominate the field of commercial aviation, leaving no room for the state unless there is a loss of life, injury or damage.

A spokesman for the state attorney’s office said it would appeal the ruling.

Hughes and Cloyd were in the cockpit of a plane being towed to the runway for takeoff from Miami International Airport on a flight to Phoenix on July 1, 2002, when air traffic controllers ordered the plane back to the terminal.

A security screener alerted authorities that she smelled alcohol on the pilots and later told a court the aroma was so strong she feared they would light up “like a dragon” if anyone lighted a match.

The pilots were taken to a police substation for a breath test that measured their blood-alcohol levels.

The America West plane had 124 passengers and three flight attendants aboard in addition to the two pilots.

America West fired Cloyd and Hughes and federal regulators revoked their flying certificates. Federal prosecutors could still charge the men with operating a plane while drunk, but the federal standards are tougher to prove.