Travelers hoping to depart from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on Tuesday morning were forced to delay their plans after their pilot was pulled from the plane and arrested. The man, Gabriel Schroeder, wasn’t a wanted criminal, he was just probably drunk.
As CNN reports, the plane was fully boarded and essentially ready for takeoff when airport police hauled him off the plane under suspicion of being intoxicated. He was also reportedly carrying alcohol on his person, which is probably a big red flag that something was amiss.
According to a spokesman for the airport, Schroeder was acting somewhat bizarre while in the TSA inspection line for crew members. The pilot apparently left the line after noticing that there was additional screening being conducted for the crew. He returned to the TSA checkpoint later and then boarded the plane.
The airport conducted a quick investigation and declared that the pilot was likely unfit to fly, and police took him into custody. It was then that a bottle of alcohol was found in his possession, though officials didn’t say exactly what kind of booze he was toting with him.
Schroeder wasn’t immediately charged with anything but that may change once authorities get back the official toxicology results. The test may reportedly take as long as a week to be completed.
As for the flight itself, it eventually got off the ground after a brief delay. The plane was still at its gate when authorities decided to pull the pilot, but officials were obviously cutting it a little close. An airport spokesman told CNN there was “always a chance” the plane may have taken off before police made the call, but thankfully that didn’t happen.
