'Drunk' air marshal kicked off flight and arrested at Heathrow
An air marshal was removed from a United Airlines flight and arrested at Heathrow on Monday for "stinking of booze".
The armed marshal was kicked off the Los Angeles-bound flight and breathalysed before being held on suspicion of being over the prescribed limit but was released shortly after, a police source told The Sun.
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Speaking to the newspaper, the source said: "It is only an offence if someone has an aviation function like flying the plane or being an engineer.
"When the case was reviewed it was decided the legislation did not fit with the function he performed."
While the sky marshal had not broken any UK laws, officials in America are now investigating the incident as air marshals are banned from drinking alcohol at least four hours before flying.
Scotland Yard confirmed the incident and a United Airlines spokesperson apologised for the two-hour delay.
Last year, a federal air marshal was booted off a flight by the captain after he threatened to file a complaint over a flight attendant spilling a drink.
A tray of drinks was spilled on David Maldonado before take-off and the air marshal claimed the stewardess "responded by laughing sarcastically and walking away without apologising... or offering to clean the spill."
In a discrimination lawsuit filed in October 2015, Maldonado said he believed the flight attended spilled the drinks deliberately.
According to New York Daily News, he was outraged and rushed to the cockpit to inform the captain that he might report the incident to the TSA's Mission Operation Center.
The captain responded: "Are you mad? Because I don't want a mad person with a gun on my plane.
"I didn't serve 21 f-----g years in the military being shot at so that you can threaten me with a phone call!"
Maldonado was barred from the plane and subsequently suspended for seven days.
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