7th March 2022

‘Drunk’ pilot removed from jetblue airplane just before takeoff

By NY Post

A JetBlue pilot was yanked out of a cockpit minutes before takeoff from an upstate New York airport Wednesday and found to have a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit to fly, according to reports.

James Clifton, 52, took a Breathalyzer after cops removed him from the Fort Lauderdale-bound plane out of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesperson told The Buffalo News.

The Orlando, Fla., resident was allegedly visibly tipsy when he went through security before boarding the plane, leading Transportation Security Administration agents to notify cops, the report said.

The pilot, who had a registered firearm he was taking through the gates, “seemed ‘off'” to TSA workers, according to a partially redacted NFTA police report obtained by The Post.

Clifton denied drinking the morning before the flight, but eventually admitted he had as many as “7-8” drunks at a bar the previous night, the police report stated.

A coworker who had joined the pilot for dinner told cops that Clifton didn’t answer his phone or show up Wednesday morning when a shuttle arrived at their hotel to take them to the airport Wednesday morning, the police report said. He later took an Uber to the airport, according to the statement cited in the report.

His blood alcohol content was 0.17 percent, which is twice the 0.08-percent limit to drive a car and four times the 0.04-percent BAC limit placed on pilots under Federal Aviation Administration rules, according to WIVB-TV.

The flight, originally scheduled to leave Buffalo at 6: 15 a.m., was delayed four hours and 10 minutes, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. It arrived in Florida at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to the site.

He was not charged with any local violations, but the incident was reported to federal authorities, the police report said. A JetBlue spokesperson said the pilot has been removed from his duties.

“The safety of JetBlue’s customers and crewmembers is our first priority,” spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said in an email to The Post. “We adhere to all [Department of Transportation] rules and requirements concerning alcohol at all times and have a very strict zero tolerance internal alcohol policy.

“We are aware of the incident that occurred this morning in Buffalo and are cooperating fully with law enforcement,” the spokesperson added. “We are also conducting our own internal investigation.”

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