Police Board Southwest Airlines Plane At Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport To Arrest Pilot For DUI
A 
Southwest Airlines
pilot was apprehended in Georgia this week, delaying a flight from Savannah/Hilton Head to Chicago Midway. The pilot was reportedly escorted from the plane shortly before it was due to fly on Wednesday morning.
An early morning arrest
Southwest Airlines pilot David Paul Allsorp, 52, of New Hampshire, was taken into custody at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport
(SAV) on Wednesday, January 15th, and booked into a local jail on charges of driving under the influence.
Police officers were seen boarding the plane at the gate (Southwest uses Gate 9 of the airport’s Main Terminal) and removing a crewmember shortly before the plane was due to depart. According to NBC, one of the airport’s Transportation Security Administration ( TSA
) officers smelled alcohol on the pilot and informed law enforcement officials.
However, this had not been independently confirmed. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office jail records do show that Allsorp was charged with Driving Under The Influence and booked with a $3,500 bond.
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Allsop has reportedly been a licensed pilot since 2008 and has since been released on bond. CNN reports that he has been flying with Southwest for 18 years. When reached for comment by Simple Flying, a spokesperson for Southwest Airlines confirmed the pilot has been removed from duty:
“The Employee involved in the situation on Flight 3772 Wednesday morning from Savannah has been removed from duty.
“There’s nothing more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Employees and Customers.”
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
It was not immediately clear when the DUI incident took place or if the pilot was in any way under the influence when he was arrested on Wednesday.
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The FAA requires at least 8 hours “from bottle to throttle,” although the specific length of time passing does not guarantee pilots are in the best shape to fly or that their blood alcohol content is below the legal level, noting:
“You may not act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage, while under the influence of alcohol, while using any drug that affects your faculties in any way contrary to safety, or while having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater in a blood or breath specimen.”
Photo: Hananeko_Studio I Shutterstock
For reference, the requirements for pilots are twice as strict as the 0.08% requirement for driving a car in the State of Georgia.
Southwest in Savannah
The Southwest Airlines Flight 3772 to Chicago Midway
(MDW) was significantly delayed as a result. According to data from Flightradar24, the Boeing 737 registered N467WN finally left Savannah at 11:06, five hours after its original estimated departure time. It landed in Chicago two hours later at 12:01 local time.
Photo: Flightradar24
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson confirmed that passengers with connections were rebooked on other flights or otherwise rerouted:
“Customers were accommodated on other flights, and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans.”
Southwest Airlines began serving Coastal Georgia and South Carolina’s Low Country on March 11th, 2021, with direct flights to five of its busiest markets: Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Chicago-Midway (MDW), Nashville (BNA), Houston-Hobby (HOU), and Dallas-Love Field (DAL)
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Airport officials had reportedly been waiting and working toward bringing Southwest Airlines to the airport for over 20 years by the time the airline finally began service. Today, the airline still flies to the five original destinations and will resume flights to Denver (DEN) and Saint Louis (STL) in March.
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