Aaron Jason Cope, United Express pilot, found guilty of flying drunk

According to the U.S. District Court findings of fact, Cope served as co-pilot and first officer alongside captain Robert Obodzinski on a United Express flight from Austin to Denver in December 2009. Cope had begged off a dinner the night before, saying he wasn't feeling well -- so Obodzinski chalked up his puffy face and red eyes the following morning to a cold. However, he couldn't help noticing the scent of alcohol emanating from Cope en route to Colorado.

Upon their arrival in Denver, Obodzinski took a big whiff of his co-pilot's breath, and what he smelled alarmed him enough to request that Cope's next flight, on which he was scheduled to actually fly the plane, be delayed prior to a Breathalyzer test. Cope then disappeared for the next few minutes, during which time he allegedly gulped down water from a drinking fountain in an apparent attempt to sway the test results.

Doing so didn't help enough for Cope to pass. The pilot, who told Obodzinski that he'd had a couple of beers the previous night, and had also accompanied a friend to a bar and bought brewskis at a gas station, blew a .094 the first time around, followed by a .084. Those are marginal readings for an automobile driver, but the FAA's blood-alcohol-content standard is a tougher .04 -- and Republic Airways, which oversaw the United Express flight, considers a .02 reading grounds for firing.

This evidence was more than enough for U.S. District Court judge John Tunheim, who handed down a guilty verdict. Cope could be sentenced to as many as fifteen years in prison.

That's a high price to pay for a case of the brown bottle flu. See the court documents below.

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