Tipster Didn't Want His Parents `Flying With ... Drunk Pilots'

MINNEAPOLIS - A Moorhead, Minn., lumber salesman testified that it was he who notified authorities about three partying Northwest Airlines pilots - because he didn't want his parents flying off ``with a bunch of drunk pilots.''

The surprise identification of the heretofore anonymous tipster came yesterday during cross-examination of Leslie Stenerson during the first day of testimony in the trial of the Northwest crew.

Defense attorney Peter Wold, representing Capt. Norman L. Prouse, admitted that Prouse is an alcoholic and had been drinking heavily until late the night before the flight. But Wold and defense attorneys representing the other crew members insisted that the drinking was irrelevant because the crew was not impaired. In fact, they conducted a flawless flight, Wold said.

Stenerson told about meeting the three defendants in a Moorhead bar the night before the flight. Prouse, 51, and co-pilot Robert Kirchner, 35, and flight engineer Joseph Balzer, 34, are on trial charged with the federal felony of operating an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol.

Near the end of cross-examination by Balzer's attorney, Bruce Hanley, the attorney suddenly looked up from his notes and asked Stenerson, ``You're the person who called the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), aren't you?''

Prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega jumped to her feet and objected on grounds the identity of the caller was privileged information.

But Judge James Rosenbaum allowed the question to be asked, and Stenerson answered, ``Yes.''

De la Vega later asked Stenerson why he called the FAA about the drinking crewmen. ``My parents were supposed to be flying back to Florida and I was concerned that they would be flying with a bunch of drunk pilots,'' Stenerson said.

Stenerson left the courtroom flushed and obviously upset about his role being revealed. Outside the courtroom, he refused to comment on whether his parents were on the 6:30 a.m. flight to the Twin Cities.

Before the sudden revelation, Stenerson had confirmed earlier testimony that the three defendants had been drinking heavily in the Speak Easy Bar and Restaurant the night before the flight.

Stenerson told of a boisterous crew nearby and of Prouse getting into an argument with another customer. He also said Prouse joined him and a friend at their table after the argument.

Stenerson also recalled Balzer becoming loud and upset when Stenerson's friend made some comment about Balzer's eyes. The witness said Balzer and Kirchner left shortly after that angry exchange, about 10:30 p.m., but that Prouse stayed on and drank with them until about 11:30 p.m.

When Prouse got up to leave, Stenerson recalled, the pilot and his chair tumbled over backward.

According to earlier testimony by a cocktail waitress at the bar, Kathryn Litch, Prouse apparently couldn't find his hotel about two blocks away and returned to the bar 20 minutes later asking for directions.

The three crewmen were questioned at the Fargo airport the next morning by an FAA inspector after a telephone tip about the previous night's drinking. But flight 650 took off about 6:30 a.m. while the inspector was trying to get instructions from the Twin Cities on how to handle the situation.

The cockpit crew was detained after the plane landed in Minneapolis and blood-alcohol tests were performed.

According to the prosecution, the tests revealed that Proust had a reading of .12 percent; Kirchner a level of .06; and Balzer a reading of .07. The FAA's limit for flying is .04 percent.

Verl Addison, the inspector who questioned the three before takeoff, told of getting the telephone tip and later of smelling alcohol on the three crewmen when he questioned them at the airport.

The courtroom was crowded, with national and regional media covering the start of the government's first prosecution of airline personnel suspected of being under the influence while flying.