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Tue 20 May, 2008 08:11 pm
Jeffrey Paul Bradford and Adrianna Grace Connor should have just gone back to their motel room Sunday night, according to Lower Swatara Twp. police.
Instead, Bradford, 24, a pilot for Pinnacle Airlines Inc., and Connor, a flight attendant for the airline, left Angies Diner on Eisenhower Boulevard and walked to nearby woods along Richardson Road.
"They told the officer they wanted to go do it in the woods, essentially," said Sgt. Richard Brandt. "That's the best answer they had."
Bradford, of Moon Twp. in the Pittsburgh suburbs, wound up naked and wandering in the woods, triggering a search that involved a state police helicopter with body-heat-sensing gear, authorities said.
The pilot -- who police found shortly before midnight -- had been scheduled to fly out of Harrisburg International Airport to Detroit at 7:30 a.m. Monday, a Pinnacle Airlines official said.
Instead, Bradford and Connor, 24, of Belleville, Mich., appeared before a district judge Monday and were released on $10,000 bail each.
"We would have a zero-tolerance policy for actions of the type alleged in this instance," said Joe Williams, a spokesman for the Memphis-based airline.
Bradford and Connor have been suspended pending an investigation, he said.
The search began after Robert Furlong, the township fire chief, heard noises outside his Richardson Road home sometime after 9 p.m. Sunday and found Connor in his duty vehicle, police said.
"She said the reason she got into the [vehicle] was to look for a flashlight to find her friend," Brandt said.
Police found Bradford's clothes in the woods behind Furlong's house, arrest documents state. But they didn't find Bradford until shortly before midnight, soon after he confronted a woman on Summit Ridge and asked her for a pair of shorts.
The woman, who had just arrived home from work, called 911.
Just as the helicopter joined the search, police found Bradford hiding behind a shed wearing nothing but a wristwatch and flip-flops, the documents state.
Bradford was arraigned before District Judge Michael Smith on charges of indecent exposure, open lewdness, public drunkenness, loitering and prowling at night, and disorderly conduct. Connor was arraigned on charges of theft from a motor vehicle, public drunkenness, and loitering and prowling at night.
During Bradford's arraignment, he told the judge he'd been a pilot for Pinnacle for 31/2 years. Connor told the judge she'd worked for the airline for about a year.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said any pilot is prohibited from flying with a blood alcohol percentage of 0.04 or higher. However, pilots are not randomly tested unless suspicions are raised, according to the agency.
While the FAA requires eight hours between a pilot's last drink and the time he or she goes behind the controls, Pinnacle has a 12-hour restriction, Williams said.
"And that applies not only to the cockpit, but if you're in uniform and on duty for Pinnacle," Williams said. "It could be a jump crew heading to another airport to pick up their flight."
Bradford is required to report the offense to his employer, Peters said. But for alcohol offenses, Peters said the FAA revokes a pilot's certificate only upon a conviction of driving under the influence of alcohol or driving while intoxicated.
Peters said it would be up to Pinnacle Airlines to take action, and then report that action to the FAA.
a search that involved a state police helicopter with body-heat-sensing gear
seems extreme over a case of getting laid in the woods.
right... for that kind of thing... isn't one heat seeker enough?
jeez, they just wanted a little nookie! Who hasn't had sex in the woods at least once in their lifetime?
YOU SAID AIRLINE PILOT. THE DUCK WILL COME DOWN AND GIVE YOU A SKIT
AIRLINE PILOTS ON THEIR TIME OFF
Following this. (Imprinting, y'know.)
A police helicopter?
$10,000 bail?
What on earth?
I'm guessing something was left out of the report - it makes no sense at all.
he may be being charged for the search team.
THATS expencive ... especially when , it seems, he wasnt in apparent danger
( since he COULD find people quickly it sounds )