MIAMI, July 22 (UPI) -- A Miami judge has handed out prison sentences to two America West pilots found drunk in the cockpit readying for takeoff.
Circuit Judge David Young, scolding the pair for acting "outrageously," gave Captain Thomas Cloyd five years in prison and First Officer Christopher Hughes, his co-pilot, two and a half years.
"What were you thinking of?" Young asked. "It's inconceivable to me that two individuals who had careers in the airline industry could act so irresponsibly."
The pilots had been removed from the cockpit after taking control of America West Flight 566, Miami to Phoenix, carrying 117 passengers on the morning of July 1, 2002.
Less than six hours earlier, they walked out of Mr. Moe's bar with "to-go" cups of beer -- the last items on a $122 bar tab, the Miami Herald said Friday.
Last month, a jury convicted both pilots of operating an aircraft while drunk, a felony.
