Virgin pilot sentenced to 60 days
A Virgin Atlantic Airways pilot arrested on charges of being drunk before he was due to fly a 747 jet from Washington to London, has been sentenced to 60 days in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Richard Harwell, 55, was allowed to go free since all but three days of the sentence were suspended.
Harwell had already served that much time.
A Loudon County court, Virginia, official said Harwell was also given unsupervised probation for one year and had his bond and passport returned.
Harwell was arrested on December 19 at Washington Dulles International Airport.
At the time, authorities said security screeners smelled liquor on Harwell’s breath before the pilot was scheduled to fly 400 people to London on a Boeing 747.
A grand jury indicted Harwell on a charge of attempting to operate an aircraft while under the influence.
But he pleaded guilty on July 13 to a misdemeanour charge of interfering with the operation of an aircraft, the court official said.
Although a US citizen, Harwell lived in Britain with his wife and two children. He had been forbidden to leave the United States while the case was pending.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said Harwell resigned from the company in March, and that it would not comment further.
