UA pilot charged with being over alcohol limit

LONDON (AP) — A United Airlines pilot who was pulled from his trans-Atlantic flight to Chicago shortly before takeoff has been charged with having too much alcohol in his system, British police said Tuesday.

Scotland Yard said that 51-year-old Erwin Vermont Washington, of Lakewood, Colo., was arrested after officers were called to United Airlines Flight 949, which was already full of passengers and due to leave London’s Heathrow Airport just after noon Monday.

BAA, Heathrow’s operator, said the plane had been due to leave imminently. A BAA spokesman quoted by Britain’s Press Association news agency added that the pilot had been reported to authorities by another member of United’s staff.

It was not immediately clear how much alcohol Washington was accused of having consumed. Under British law, pilots are forbidden from having any more than 20 micrograms of alcohol for each 100 milliliters of blood in their system, or .02 percent. For most average-sized men, that is the equivalent of having just had about half a glass of regular-strength beer.

Scotland Yard said that Washington, who has been released on bail, would have to appear at a court in northwest London on Nov. 20. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison, a fine, or both.