{"id":351672,"date":"2026-09-20T13:46:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T13:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351672\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T13:46:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T13:46:54","slug":"pilots-who-crashed-new-private-jet-both-accused-of-flying-drunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/351672\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilots who crashed new private jet both accused of flying drunk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two pilots were allegedly both flying drunk when they crashed a brand new private jet this week, causing it to burst into flames on the runway.<\/p>\n<p>The Cessna Citation Latitude, a 2026-built jet operated by a Turkish company, was touching down at Misrata International Airport in Libya Monday when it veered off the runway and crashed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/middle-east\/libya-arrests-pilots-accused-of-flying-turkish-jet-drunk-before-runway-crash-3002111\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Arab News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photos and video obtained by Jam Press show dark smoke spewing from the charred and mangled wreckage.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40881853\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/libya-s-public-prosecution-said-141564162.jpg\" alt=\"Emergency services extinguish the flames on a private jet at Misrata International Airport in Libya on Monday, Sept. 14. \" class=\"wp-image-40881853\"\/>Emergency services extinguish the flames on a private jet at Misrata International Airport in Libya on Monday, Sept. 14.  Jam Press<\/p>\n<p>Only three people were on board \u2014 a German pilot, a Turkish co-pilot and a Turkish flight attendant, according to Arab News, citing independent Libyan outlet Al-Ahrar TV, and no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot and copilot were arrested for pretrial detention after investigators discovered \u201cevidence that (the pilots) had flown the aircraft while drunk,\u201d according to state prosecutors in Libya.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors claimed the pilots posed \u201ca real threat\u201d to the airport and travelers in the airspace.<\/p>\n<p>However, the jet\u2019s Turkey-based operator, BKNJET Aviation Co., disputed the Libyan government\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.57617188;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40881841\" width=\"340\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-according-aviation-records-reportedly-141183811.jpg\" alt=\"No injuries were reported in the crash.\" class=\"wp-image-40881841\"\/>No injuries were reported in the fiery crash. Jam Press<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo verified result or document indicating any such finding regarding alcohol has been received by us,\u201d the operator said.<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft had departed Istanbul Atat\u00fcrk Airport without passengers and was travelling to Misrata to pick up VIP passengers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The crash caused a brief travel disruption at the Misrata Airport Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two pilots were allegedly both flying drunk when they crashed a brand new private jet this week, causing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9489,7960,27340,8077,131331,9,11,10,6649,89376,1076],"class_list":["post-351672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-africa","tag-airplanes","tag-dramatic-flights","tag-drunk-driving","tag-libya","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-plane-crashes","tag-private-jets","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}