SAN DIEGO – A Northwest Airlines flight was delayed from leaving Lindbergh Field by about 90 minutes Friday when the pilot and co-pilot volunteered to take sobriety tests, a spokeswoman for the airline said.
The incident began when a passenger on Northwest Flight 184 from San Diego to Minneapolis/St. Paul, whose gender was not identified, said he or she thought that the pilot and co-pilot had been intoxicated on a different Northwest flight on a different date, said airline spokeswoman Leslie Parker.
In an official statement on the incident, Northwest said: “In response to this, the crew (pilot and co-pilot) participated in self-selected sobriety tests. All results were negative.”
“They volunteered,” Parker said of the pilot and co-pilot. “They said, 'We'll take the tests.'”
Parker said the flight departed “without incident” from San Diego at 1:27 p.m. It was scheduled to leave at noon.
“The flight is in the air now, and I know the same crew that was on the ground is in the air with the flight,” Parker said.
Parker said she did not have further details on the incident because the plane was in the air, but acknowledged that a passenger making such a statement was unusual.
“It's something I've not ever heard of before,” she said.
