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 was arrested Wednesday at a Georgia airport just before takeoff and accused of driving under the influence, according to airline officials and authorities in Georgia.

A Southwest Airlines pilot was removed from the cockpit ahead of a Wednesday flight from Georgia to Chicago and was booked on a charge of driving under the influence, a source familiar with the incident told CBS News.

A pilot on a Southwest Airlines flight was walked off the flight by police officers and arrested for allegedly showing up for the flight intoxicated. David Paul Allsop, 52, was arrested by airport police in Savannah just before he was supposed to pilot a Southwest flight from Savannah/Hilton Head Airport in Georgia to Chicago-Midway on Wednesday morning.

David Allsop, 52, is charged with driving under the influence, according to Chatham County Sheriff's office jail records.

The report says the pilot, identified as David Allsop, 52, had “a strong odor of what seemed to be alcohol” and “bloodshot, watery eyes."

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

A Southwest Airlines pilot was allegedly removed from the cockpit of a plane and arrested for driving under the influence ahead of a flight from Savannah, Ga., to Chicago, according to a CBS News report.