Two pilots who ‘were drunk as they prepared to fly from Scotland to Toronto’ have passports seized
Airmen charged after passenger jet incident before being rushed from court in blacked-out taxi
TWO airline pilots charged with being DRUNK as they prepared to fly hundreds of passengers from Glasgow to Canada have been bailed.
Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were dragged from the cockpit of their Airbus A310 jet by police as it sat on the runway of Glasgow Airport on 18 June.
Reports claim staff raised the alarm as the pilots began their pre-flight checks because there were fears they had been drinking.
Appearing in court on Tuesday after eight days in jail, the Air Transat airmen had their passports seized as part of their bail conditions.
The Canadian nationals initially faced another charge of of threatening and abusive behaviour, but this has been dropped by prosecutors at Paisley Sheriff Court.
Perreault, from Ontario, and Syed, from Toronto, didn't enter a plea and were rushed away from court in a blacked-out people carrier after leaving through a back door.
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They have been charged under Section 93 of the Railway and Transport Safety Act.
It states: ''A person commits an offence if he performs an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit".
For pilots, the limit of alcohol in the case of breath is nine microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres.
Air Transat, which operates a daily 1pm flight from Glasgow to Toronto, has promised to pay up to £500 for each of the 230 affected passengers after their journey was delayed by 24 hours.
They were put up at the nearby Glynhill Hotel in Renfew.
TV presenters and interior designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan were both on board the cancelled TS725 flight.
Writing on their joint Instagram page after the incident, the pair said: "Better to arrive late in this world than early in the next."
The airline has launched an internal investigation and suspended the pilots as the trial continues.
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