Authorities say an airline pilot who seemed to smell like alcohol was making pre-flight checks in the cockpit when police arrested him on a DUI charge.

A Southwest Airlines pilot suspected of being drunk was removed from the cockpit and arrested just before takeoff Wednesday at a Georgia airport, according to airline officials and authorities in the state.

A TSA officer flagged local authorities after noticing the pilot appeared intoxicated before he boarded a Southwest plane in Savannah, Georgia.