First Officer Said He Never Intended To Fly

James Yates told a jury in Manchester, England this week he never intended to fly when he showed up at that city's airport last year, smelling of alcohol... and on Wednesday, the jury agreed.

BBC News reports jurors in the Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court found Yates, 46, not guilty of charges the American Airlines first officer planned to serve on the flight crew of a Boeing 767 departing for Chicago on February 11, 2006.

Throughout the proceedings, Yates maintained he was only at the airport to tell his fellow pilots he was too ill to fly.

Authorities arrested Yates at a security checkpoint at the airport, after he failed to show a valid ID. A blood test administered at the police station found Yates had a blood-alcohol level six times the FAA's legal limit, the result of partying with friends the night before. Yates told the court he had also taken Ambien, a prescription sleep aid.

The Guardian newspaper reports the beleaguered FO was aided by written testimony from Brigadier General Thomas Botchie, a senior commander in the Ohio National Guard who has known Yates since the 1980s.

"I consider James to be a professional prepared to come to the defense of his country," Botchie wrote. "It takes a certain caliber of person to qualify. I have always found him to be a person of high morals and trustworthy. My opinion is, if James says he's telling the truth, he's telling the truth."

Yates, who officers said was unsteady on his feet, red-faced and disheveled when he showed up at the checkpoint, never set foot on the plane he was scheduled to fly.

FMI: www.aa.com