A federal court hearing was told a JetBlue pilot was under the influence of alcohol when he flew a jet carrying 151 passengers from Orlando to New York City.
The criminal complaint says pilot Dennis Murphy Jr. was given a random alcohol test after landing Flight 584 at JFK.
The April 21, 2015 test showed his blood alcohol level was 0.11, which is above the .04 legal limit for on duty air crew, according to court documents.
A co-pilot gave a statement to investigators saying he saw Murphy ‘drinking an unknown beverage from a cup before and during’ the flight and another earlier flight that day.
JetBlue confirmed the pilot is no longer employed at the airline and it has a ‘zero tolerance’ drug and alcohol policy.
Murphy was released on $50,000 bond following the preliminary court appearance. He could face 15 years in prison if convicted.
It comes just days after the public release of Federal Aviation Administration records showed 225 commercial airlines pilots had tested positive for excessive blood-alcohol levels since 1995.
FAA data showed there were 56,327 tests carried out in 2015 to safety critical airline workers with 119 testing positive, equivalent to just 0.2%.
