Prosecutor: Pilot may face alcohol charge
Erratic flight over airports, nuclear plant raised alerts
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(CNN) -- The case of a pilot with a preliminary blood-alcohol ratio of 0.13 is raising legal questions after his erratic, four-hour flight over Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Friday.
The pilot, John Vincent Salamone, 44, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, flew "haphazardly" over Philadelphia and Atlantic City, New Jersey, twice entering controlled airspace without permission.
At one point the plane flew near a nuclear power plant, prompting security concerns, officials said.
Salamone's blood-alcohol content registered 0.13 after a breath test administered after he landed, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Bruce Castor told CNN. In Pennsylvania a motorist is considered to be operating a motor vehicle under the influence with a blood-alcohol ratio of 0.08.
The pilot was arrested and could have his license suspended or revoked, federal officials said. But local law enforcement officials are not sure what criminal charges to file against the pilot.
Salamone's 1967 Piper Cherokee meets the definition of a vehicle, defined under Pennsylvania law as "any device upon or by which a person or property may be transported ... upon a highway," Castor said.
But "now you've got to figure out what a highway is," Castor said. "It is trickier than I first thought it was going to be."
Castor said his staff is researching Pennsylvania statutes and case law to see if the airport runway or the air routes fit the legal definition of highway.
The airport runway initially appears not to fit the definition because it is not publicly maintained, he said. But Castor said he believes the air routes can be construed to be a highway.
He has never encountered a similar situation in his 18 year career as a prosecutor, Castor said.
"I'm sure someplace in Pennsylvania this has happened before, but we've got to look," he said.
Salamone, the president of a concrete company, was released from custody, and calls to his business were not returned.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Salamone has no previous aviation accidents, incidents or enforcement actions on his record. The FAA said it could move to suspend or revoke Salamone's pilot's license, or impose a civil penalty.
Another FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, said an air traffic controller noticed Salamone's plane on radar at 6:30 p.m. about 15 miles northwest of the Philadelphia airport, flying southeast toward Philadelphia. The plane crossed into the airport's restricted airspace.
"Normally if you are piloting out, all you do is you call us and say 'I'd like to proceed in this airspace,'" Peters said. "He didn't do that."
The pilot headed toward Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey, before trying to land at a smaller airport south of Philadelphia.
The pilot did not land, however, and re-entered Philadelphia airport airspace.
Air traffic controllers contacted the pilot and asked if he wanted to land in Philadelphia. He declined, instead heading back to Pottstown Limerick Airport, where he made one attempt to land at his home airport before flying over a nuclear power plant, Peters said.
A police helicopter intercepted the plane and forced it to land at 10:17 p.m., Peters said.
He "came down on his own volition" at Pottstown airport, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia, said the airport's manager, Mike D'Aries.
"From what they can determine, it was pretty obvious that when he landed he was pretty intoxicated," D'Aries said.
The pilot faces two citations from the FAA for flying through Class B controlled airspace -- airspace around a major airport -- without FAA approval. The FAA is investigating the incident.
CNN's Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.
