A United Express pilot caught flying a plane under the influence of alcohol was sentenced Friday to six months in federal prison.
Aaron Jason Cope, 33, of Norfolk, Va., also will serve six months of home detention, three of those months on electronic monitoring, once his prison sentence is completed. Cope must report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons by Jan. 3.
After a two-day bench trial in June, he was convicted of operating an aircraft under the influence of alcohol.
Cope was the co-pilot on a flight from Austin, Texas, to Denver on Dec. 8, 2009, when another pilot smelled alcohol in the cockpit.
When the flight landed at Denver International Airport, Cope’s co-pilot “took a big whiff” and realized Cope had been drinking, according to the Colorado U.S. attorney’s office.
Cope went to a bar with a friend and purchased beer from a gas station near his hotel before his flight. His blood-alcohol level was 0.084 percent.
Federal aviation regulations prohibit anyone from acting as a crew member of a civil aircraft with a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 percent or more or within eight hours after the consumption of any alcohol beverage.
“The public rightly expects that airline pilots will not drink and fly,” Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a news release.
