- NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A
drunken pilot who buzzed his plane near a nuclear power plant and came
near six commercial airliners was sentenced to six to 23 months in prison
on Tuesday.
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- John V. Salamone had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent
when he landed the plane after an erratic, four-hour flight on Jan. 15
over the Philadelphia region, authorities said. The legal limit for pilots,
set by the Federal Aviation Administration, is 0.04 percent, half the amount
for drivers in Pennsylvania.
-
- Salamone, 44, who faced up to nine years in prison, must
also serve five years probation and undergo alcohol counseling, a Montgomery
County judge ordered.
-
- Salamone was convicted of risking a catastrophe and reckless
endangerment after prosecutors learned the initial state charge of driving
under the influence does not apply to pilots.
-
- Lawmakers have since tried to rectify the legal loophole,
passing a bill -- now awaiting the governor's signature -- that makes flying
drunk a crime.
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- Salamone, flying a single-engine Piper Cherokee, meandered
into New Jersey and flew into forbidden airspace. He flew as low as 100
feet and within a quarter mile of the Limerick nuclear power plant, officials
said.
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- A Philadelphia police helicopter helped force the plane
down. Officials acknowledged at the time there was little they could do,
physically, to bring the plane down after the North American Aerospace
Defense Command concluded it was not a terrorist threat.
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