LOS ANGELES — A California airline pilot has been charged with piloting an Alaska Airlines jet full of passengers while under the influence of alcohol.
David Hans Arntson, 60, of Newport Beach was arrested last week and appeared in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 10.
Arntson had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.134 percent and 0.142 percent in random tests conducted 15 minutes apart June 20, 2014, according to an affidavit by an investigator with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s office of inspector general.
The tests were performed by an Alaska Airlines technician at a restroom inside a terminal at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, according to the affidavit. That day, Arntson had piloted two Alaska Airlines flights: one from San Diego to Portland, Ore., and the other from Portland to John Wayne, according to the affidavit.
The technician was waiting for Arntson when the plane approached the gate. His co-pilot told investigators that when Arntson saw the drug tester at the gate, he said, “I bet it’s for me.”
Arntson, who had worked for Alaska Airlines since 1982, was removed from “safety-sensitive duties” that day, according to the airline. He later retired.
In an interview this fall at his Newport Beach home, Arntson told investigators that he didn’t have problems with alcohol or substance abuse and that the night before the flight, he had ordered a beer for dinner and sipped it.
He tried to have his own blood test conducted after learning of the positive breath-test result. He said a blood test the following morning showed he had no alcohol in his body, according to the affidavit.
Arntson is being prosecuted under federal law, which considers commercial airline pilots intoxicated if their blood-alcohol concentration is 0.10 percent or higher.
If convicted, Arntson could face up to 15 years in federal prison.
His attorney could not be reached for comment.
