Metro Police arrest pilot on suspicion of being intoxicated

Jen Lawson

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 10:48 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a pilot for the discount airline AirTran Airways on suspicion of being intoxicated early Thursday, minutes before he was to fly a passenger jet from McCarran International Airport to Atlanta.

A checkpoint screener for the Transportation Security Administration smelled alcohol on 37-year-old Oliver Paul Reason and alerted police, who found Reason in the cockpit of the Boeing aircraft preparing for the red-eye flight.

"We applaud the efforts of our screening workforce," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Reason, a Newnon, Ga., resident, had been in Las Vegas on a 24-hour layover before returning to Atlanta, Tad Hutcheson, an AirTran spokesman, said.

According to a copy of Reason's arrest report, the pilot told officers -- who said the pilot's breath smelled of alcohol although he did not appear intoxicated -- he had not had a drink in about 10 hours.

Federal law prohibits pilots from flying with a more than 0.04 blood-alcohol content. A breath test administered by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper showed Reason had a 0.091 blood alcohol content and a second blood test administered at the Clark County Detention Center confirmed the results, according to the report.

The pilot, who was authorized under federal law to carry a gun, had passed through the McCarran checkpoint about 11:30 p.m. and screeners suspected he was drunk, Metro Police spokesman Officer Jose Montoya said.

"They called us and said a pilot just went by and they smelled a strong smell of alcohol," Montoya said.

Police determined what gate Reason went to and found him preparing to fly the plane.

They asked him to step out into the jetway, did some preliminary tests and took him into custody about 12:30 a.m. for operating an aircraft under the influence, Montoya said.

Reason was being held this morning in the Clark County Detention Center on $2,000 bail. He was scheduled to appear in court this morning.

The flight was canceled and passengers were booked on later flights, Hutcheson said. The passengers were told Reason had to leave for a family emergency because, Hutcheson said, the airline did not want to cause a panic.

Hutcheson said Reason was fired early this morning after a meeting with the company's flight operations director.

The spokesman said he did not know what an FAA review of the incident could mean for Reason flying commercially for another airline.

"I doubt he'll be flying again," Hutcheson said. "But he won't be flying for AirTran anymore."

Reason's arrest also prompted an immediate suspension of his status as a federal flight deck officer. That designation had allowed him to carry a firearm.

Federal flight deck officers are trained to protect the aircraft cockpit. The program was created in 2003 as part of the Homeland Security Act.

Hutcheson commended Metro and TSA's action in arresting the pilot.

"Obviously he was in breach of company policy," Hutcheson said. "We're pleased the system worked and he never took command of the aircraft."

AirTran, which was formerly known as ValuJet, is headquartered in Orlando, Fla. Its hub is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The airline has an all-Boeing fleet and employs 6,000 people.