US Pilot pleads guilty to being drunk while preparing for take-off

A US pilot has pleaded guilty to being over the alcohol limit as he prepared to take off from Heathrow Airport last year.



51-year-old Erwin Washington, from Lakewood, Colorado, was arrested in November last year after he failed a Breathalyzer test.



The test showed that Washington was more than three times the permitted limit to fly a plane.



The United Airlines pilot will be sentenced on February 5.



Washington was due to captain a Boeing 767 bound for Chicago with 124 passengers and 11 crewmembers on board on November 9 last year.



However before take-off, a colleague smelled alcohol on his breath.



The police were called on the plane and the pilot was later arrested.