Delta pilot pleads guilty to being over alcohol limit before flight from Edinburgh to New York

A Delta Air Lines pilot stopped with open bottles of alcohol in his bags has pleaded guilty to being over the limit before he was due to fly a passenger plane from Edinburgh to New York.

Lawrence Russell, 63, was stopped and searched by airport security in Scotland in June last year, later pleading guilty to reporting for duty as a pilot while being impaired through drink or drugs.

During the search he was found to have two bottles of Jägermeister in his luggage – one of which was half full, according to the BBC.

Russell, who is from the US state of Georgia where Delta is based, had been due to fly a Boeing 767 full of passengers from Edinburgh to New York before he was detained.

During a routine luggage inspection at around 8am on 16 June at Edinburgh Airport, security personnel were alerted to the alcohol in Russell’s bag.

He was reportedly dressed in his pilot uniform, visibly identified as a Delta Air Lines crew member and was immediately questioned by the police after the alcohol was found.