Co-pilot guilty of operating plane drunk sentenced to prison

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A co-pilot convicted of being drunk while preparing for a charter airline flight has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Sean Michael Fitzgerald was also fined $5,500 on Friday. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said Fitzgerald’s behaviour was “simply intolerable.”

A Grand Rapids federal court jury convicted Fitzgerald in May of operating a common carrier under the influence of alcohol.

The 35-year-old New Jersey man was arrested Aug. 25, 2016, at Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport while preparing for a Talon Air flight to Massachusetts. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.34 per cent, which is 17 times the legal limit for flying a plane.

The Grand Rapids Press reports Fitzgerald apologized and said he’s being treated for alcohol abuse.

Jonker ordered Fitzgerald to surrender to prison within 10 weeks.

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Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grand-rapids