Pilot, crew fail breathalyser test

A Latvian Air Baltic pilot and three crew members were pulled off a Greece-bound passenger plane in Oslo early on Saturday after failing a breathalyser test before take-off, Norwegian police said.

Published: 8 August 2015 12:04 CEST

A Norwegian daily reported the flight that the pilot and crew were pulled from had 109 passengers on board. Photo: Nora Krevneva/DPA

“Results of the breathalyser tests confirmed that four of the five crew members … were above the legal alcohol limit of 0.2 promille,” Romerike police prosecutor Edith Ek Sorensen told AFP.

The pilot, co-pilot and two stewardesses — all from Latvia and employed by Air Baltic — were taken into police custody and escorted to hospital for blood tests to confirm the breathalyser tests.

Results were expected later.

Sorensen said police had acted after receiving a tipoff from an anonymous caller around 4:00 am (0200 GMT).

The four risk up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Sorensen would not comment on the flight's destination, but Norwegian daily Dagbladet said it was a tour group flight operated by the Norwegian group Startour headed for Chania, Greece, with 109 passengers on board.