THIS is the horrifying moment a “drunk” pilot is taken off the plane by cops just moments before takeoff.

Southwest Airlines pilot David Allsop, 52, of New Hampshire, was removed from duty and has had his pilot certification revoked.

He was arrested at Savannah/Hilton Head airport in Georgia and charged with driving under the influence back in January.

And new footage shows the moment cops stopped him from flying while he was allegedly drunk.

Cops boarded the aircraft, pulled Allsop from the cockpit and marched him off the plane in front of stunned passengers.

Passengers experienced significant delays when their flight from Savannah to Chicago, Illinois, scheduled for departure at 6:05 am, didn’t take off until 11 am.

Shocking footage taken by police body cam shows the moment officers say they can smell alcohol on the pilot’s breath.

Standing on the jet bridge cops confront Allsop, who claimed he had only drunk a “few beers” the night before.

He also suggested the odour was coming from his Rogues nicotine gum.

Still suspicious, they asked him if he would take a sobriety test to which he replied “no, there is no need”.

But after initial hesitation he eventually conceded and reportedly took three tests – two of which he failed.

The pilot was then escorted out of the airport, arrested and taken into police custody for questioning.

Southwest Airlines told Fox News it was looking into the incident and confirmed Allsop has been “removed from duty”.

The company said: “We’re aware of a situation involving an Employee on Flight 3772 this morning from Savannah.

“The employee has been removed from duty.”

According to Allsop’s public LinkedIn profile, he has worked as a pilot for Southwest since 2006, and prior to that, he served nine years piloting for the US Air Force.

The former pilot’s lawyer however insist the footage exonerates him.

Defense attorney David Chaiken commented: “The newly disclosed bodycam footage clearly shows that Captain Allsop did not commit any offense.”

US law prohibits pilots from flying an aircraft with a blood alcohol level above 0.04, which is lower than the 0.08 limit for motor vehicles.

Violations of the law could result in a pilot’s licence being revoked.

It is not clear what led to the suspicion that Allsop was intoxicated when he turned up to work.

Southwest also apologised and said passengers on the grounded plane were accommodated on other flights.

A spokesperson said: “Customers were accommodated on other flights, and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans.

“There’s nothing more important to Southwest than the safety of our employees and customers.”

The police investigation in ongoing.

In 2023, a pilot for Delta Airlines endangered hundreds of lives when it was discovered that his blood alcohol level was two-and-a-half times above the legal limit before a scheduled transatlantic flight.

Lawrence Russell Jr, 63, was set to fly a Boeing 767 from Edinburgh to New York last year when he was caught with alcohol in his system.

Security staff at Edinburgh Airport searched Russell Jr’s luggage and found he had two bottles of Jägermeister in his bag in June 2023.

Suspicion arose when one of the bottles was spotted and found to be just “half full”, with Russell admitting he had guzzled the rest.

The police were called and Russell failed the breath test.

He later underwent blood tests at Livingston Police Station which showed that Russell had not less than 49 mg of alcohol in 100 mg of blood.

This level far exceeded the legal limit of 20mg/100ml imposed by UK law.

He was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to reporting for duty as a pilot while being impaired through alcohol.