Drunk Pilot Nearly Re-Enacted the Movie 'Flight' Before He Was Arrested

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J.K. Trotter 4,033 Views Jan 4, 2013

In the new Oscar contender Flight, Denzel Washington plays a pilot who, after a night of hard drinking and a morning breakfast of cocaine and flight attendants, mixes himself an onboard screwdriver or three after flying through some turbulence — then inverts the entire fuselage in order to avoid a horrific plane crash. That's not what happened today in Minneapolis, but an Associated Press story today is certainly reminiscent of the film: a 48-year-old American Eagle pilot named Kolbjorn Jarle Kristiansen was arrested during pre-flight procedures at Minneapolis-St. Paul International after airport police, who received a tip that Kristiansen had been drinking, administered a Breathalyzer test and found that his blood-alcohol level was too high for him to fly. The legal limit in Minnesota, in case you were wondering, is 0.04 percent. Which is kind of crazy, but the 53 souls were not yet onboard for their flight to New York's LaGuardia airport.

Here's the Flight trailer for comparison:

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