Thread: Pilots ran up $142 bar tab before flight

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Two America West pilots accused of trying to fly a passenger jet while intoxicated were part of a group that ran up a $142 bar tab the night before the incident, according to prosecution documents.

Documents released by prosecutors Tuesday state pilot Thomas Cloyd and co-pilot Christopher Hughes were still legally intoxicated more than two hours after Flight 556 was scheduled to leave Miami for Phoenix. Cloyd admitted to police that he had "too many" beers the night before, according to a police document also released.

Cloyd, 44, and Hughes, 41, have pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired and a felony charge of operating an aircraft while intoxicated. Both were fired by America West after their July 1 arrest and face up to six years in prison if convicted.

The bar tab -- which Hughes put on a credit card -- lists seven 34-ounce beers, seven 16-ounce beers, one draft beer of unspecified size, a martini and one hamburger while at Mister Moe's, a bar in Miami's Coconut Grove section. A law enforcement source said that was for a group that included four or five people.


http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/07/23/pilots.dui/index.html