Pilot Charged with DUI After Removal from Plane at Savannah-Hilton Head Airport

A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport and charged with driving under the influence, according to arrest records.

David Paul Allsop, 52, was arrested by airport police Wednesday, according to booking information from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office website. He was granted a $3,500 bond, records show.

Allsop is in the Federal Aviation Administration’s database of airmen as an airline pilot with an address in Bedford, New Hampshire.

Dallas-based Southwest said the incident occurred on Flight 3772 from Savannah on Wednesday morning, and the employee has been removed from duty. The circumstances of the arrest were not immediately clear. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has requested a copy of the incident report, but one was not immediately available late Wednesday afternoon.

Attempts to reach Allsop by phone were not immediately successful.

The flight was bound for Chicago and was delayed by nearly five hours, according to FlightAware.com.

“Customers were accommodated on other flights and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans,” Southwest said in a statement. “There’s nothing more important to Southwest than the safety of our employees and customers.”

The FAA has said a pilot will be removed from a plane if their breath alcohol concentration level is 0.04 or greater. Pilots also must not drink within eight hours before flying, the so-called “bottle to throttle” time period. Some airlines have stricter requirements.

It’s not the first time a pilot has been arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Among the incidents, a Delta Air Lines pilot was arrested in 2023 at Edinburgh Airport in Scotland shortly before he was about to fly to New York.

In 2019, a Delta pilot was arrested at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of being intoxicated.

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