PASSENGER DRUNK IN AEROPLANE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22435, 23 June 1938, Page 9

PASSENGER DRUNK IN AEROPLANE

FINE IMPOSED AT NELSON (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGBAM.) ' NELSON, June 22. What was probably the first case under the Air Navigation ‘ Act of a passenger being drunk in an aeroplane came before the Magistrate’s Court this morning, when a passenger on a Cook Strait Airways machine was fined £5, in default seven days’ imprisonment. The charge was that being a passenger in a Cook Strait Airways aeroplane, he was In a state of intoJacation in an aircraft. He was also charged with being drunk in a public place, and on this charge was convicted and discharged. Senior-Sergeant Petersen said that the defendant joined the aeroplane at Greymouth and on the way up he was seen drinking from a flask of whisky. On arrival at Stoke he was in a state of drunkenness. The offence was regarded seriously and the defendant was liable to six months’ imprisonment or a fine of £2OO, or both. The Magistrate (Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M.) said he believed that the carrying of liquor in aeroplanes was prohibited. Senior-Sergeant Petersen said that it might have caused a serious accident. The defendant said he was sober when he went on the aeroplane. The Magistrate remarked that that was worse it he had been drunk before he wf.uld not have been allowed on. The defendant was so drunk he had to be assisted out of the aeroplane, said the senior-sergeant. The Magistrate said he thought it was a case for gaol, but he imposed a fine of £5.