Passed-out pilot in Canada pleads guilty to being impaired
A pilot who passed out in a cockpit before a scheduled flight in Canada pleaded guilty Tuesday to being impaired while in control of an aircraft. Miroslav Gronych was employed by Sunwing Airlines on a work visa from Slovakia. His flight was to leave Calgary, Alberta, on Dec. 31 with stops in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, before continuing to Cancun, Mexico. Gronych, 37, was found slumped over in his seat and escorted off the plane. "I can't even describe how ashamed I am," he told court. "My kids will be punished for my mistakes." A statement of facts agreed to by the prosecution and defense and read in court said police saw his pilot's wings were attached upside down on his uniform and a maid discovered an empty bottle of vodka in his hotel room. It also said he was an hour late for check-in and that he explained his tardiness by saying he had become lost going through security. When Gronych got on the plane around 7 a.m., the court was told, he struggled to hang up his coat, was slurring his words and was staggering. When the co-pilot suggested Gronych was impaired and should leave the plane, "he seemed very nonchalant and said 'OK, if that's what you feel.'" But Gronych returned to the cockpit, sat in the pilot's chair and appeared to pass out "resting his face on the window," the statement said. He was asked to leave the plane again and was held by gate agents until police arrived. The defense asked for a three- to six-month sentence while the prosecution asked the judge for one year in jail. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2017-03-22/unaligned/passed-out-pilot-in-canada-pleads-guilty-to-being-impaired
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Passed-out pilot in Canada pleads guilty to being impaired
A pilot who passed out in a cockpit before a scheduled flight in Canada pleaded guilty Tuesday to being impaired while in control of an aircraft. Miroslav Gronych was employed by Sunwing Airlines on a work visa from Slovakia. His flight was to leave Calgary, Alberta, on Dec. 31 with stops in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, before continuing to Cancun, Mexico. Gronych, 37, was found slumped over in his seat and escorted off the plane. "I can't even describe how ashamed I am," he told court. "My kids will be punished for my mistakes." A statement of facts agreed to by the prosecution and defense and read in court said police saw his pilot's wings were attached upside down on his uniform and a maid discovered an empty bottle of vodka in his hotel room. It also said he was an hour late for check-in and that he explained his tardiness by saying he had become lost going through security. When Gronych got on the plane around 7 a.m., the court was told, he struggled to hang up his coat, was slurring his words and was staggering. When the co-pilot suggested Gronych was impaired and should leave the plane, "he seemed very nonchalant and said 'OK, if that's what you feel.'" But Gronych returned to the cockpit, sat in the pilot's chair and appeared to pass out "resting his face on the window," the statement said. He was asked to leave the plane again and was held by gate agents until police arrived. The defense asked for a three- to six-month sentence while the prosecution asked the judge for one year in jail. <br/>
