Canada: Airline pilot found passed out in cockpit was drunk, says police

Calgary: An airline pilot is facing charges in Canada after police say he was found by his co-pilot passed out in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 before it was set to take off.

Calgary police say the gate crew as well as crew members on the aircraft indicated that Miroslav Gronych was behaving strangely ahead of his scheduled flight Saturday. Sgt. Paul Stacey says the co-pilot later found the 37-year-old captain "slumped over in the seat" of the airliner.

The pilot was escorted from the plane and charged with having a blood-alcohol level above .08 and controlling an aircraft while impaired. Police allege Gronych had three times the legal amount of alcohol in his system.

Sunwing Airlines calls it "a very unfortunate matter." The Mexico-bound plane later took off with another pilot.