Fly High in P.A.!!

omg, it was legal to fly an airplane while drunk in Pennsylvania. Too funny.

Rendell signs bill that would outlaw flying while drunk

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pilots who are too drunk to drive legally can be prosecuted for trying to fly while intoxicated under a bill signed by Gov. Ed Rendell.

Violators could be fined $1,000 to $5,000 and go to prison for up to three days under the measure, which Rendell signed Tuesday. If an accident happens while a member of the flight crew is deemed to have been under the influence, the penalty would rise to a fine of $5,000 to $10,000 and imprisonment of at least 30 days.

The proposal was originally part of a mass-transit stopgap funding bill that Rendell vetoed in December. Rep. Katharine Watson, R-Montgomery, sought to revive it this year.

Watson introduced the legislation last year after a pilot was arrested for flying loops around Philadelphia International Airport and a nuclear power plant in Limerick. Montgomery County prosecutors said the pilot had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 percent.

But they discovered that Pennsylvania did not have a law making it a crime for a pilot to fly while intoxicated. A district justice upheld charges of risking a catastrophe and reckless endangerment, but threw out a count of driving under the influence.