Pilots Take Breath Test, Flight Delayed After Jest

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A United Airlines pilot from Seattle and two co-pilots voluntarily submitted to breath tests after a woman jokingly asked whether they were sober as she boarded a plane, police said.

Flight 507 to Chicago was delayed nearly 90 minutes Friday while the three crew members were taken to police headquarters in suburban Gahanna, near the airport, for the tests, Columbus police Sgt. Jerome Barton said Monday.

They tested negative for alcohol, he said.

Diana Goettge, 30, of Stewart, was walking past the cockpit, where the crew was conducting its preflight check. Police quoted her as saying, ``Are the pilots sober?''

Co-pilot Garry Kravit of Plantation, Fla., reportedly replied, ``Excuse me, ma'am?'' and Goettge repeated her question while pointing at him.

The pilot, Capt. L.R. Warfield of Seattle, and co-pilot James Kozloski of Miami also submitted to tests, Barton said. Warfield also is a reserve deputy sheriff in the Seattle area.

Goettge was questioned by police. Barton said she considered her remarks a joke.

In a similar incident in Detroit in April, a pilot for Northwest Airlines refused to fly a plane bound for Atlanta after a passenger accused him of being drunk. Blood tests were negative.