Fylleflyger tilstår - Canada - Curt Lewis

Passed-out pilot in Canada pleads guilty to being impaired

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - A pilot who passed out in a cockpit before a scheduled flight in Canada pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being impaired while in control of an aircraft.

Miroslav Gronych was employed by Sunwing Airlines on a work visa from Slovakia. His flight was to leave Calgary, Alberta, on Dec. 31 with stops in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, before continuing to Cancun, Mexico.

Gronych was found slumped over in his seat and escorted off the plane.

"I can't even describe how ashamed I am," he told court. "My kids will be punished for my mistakes."

A statement of facts agreed to by the prosecution and defense and read in court said police saw his pilot's wings were attached upside down on his uniform and a maid discovered an empty bottle of vodka in his hotel room. It also said he was an hour late for check-in and that he explained his tardiness by saying he had become lost going through security