A Twin Cities-based Delta Air Lines pilot has been sentenced to home detention for attempting to fly a plane while under the influence of alcohol.
Gabriel Schroeder, 38, of Rosemount, was sentenced after pleading guilty Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court to operating or attempting to operate an aircraft under the influence of alcohol in connection with his arrest in July 2019 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
During his roughly one month of electronic home monitoring, Schroeder will serve one weekend in jail.
He's also required to complete alcohol treatment, submit to random testing and attend return-to-work meetings with his employer.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the gross misdemeanor case, tests confirmed that Schroeder had a blood alcohol level somewhere between 0.04% and 0.08% when detectives removed him from the plane's cockpit late in the morning on July 30, 2019, just as passengers started boarding the flight to San Diego.
The limit set by the Federal Aviation Administration is 0.04%, half the legal maximum for motorists in Minnesota.
Schroeder told detectives that he had a beer and three vodka drinks the night before. He also admitted discarding an unopened vodka bottle in an airport bathroom after he saw that security screening for crews had been intensified.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
