-—Pilots are prohibited from flying with a blood alcohol content of over .04,...-—
I thought commercial pilots were prohibited from drinking alcohol at all. Seems to me that’s not too much to ask.
Besides the quantitative fix blood alcohol content, there is
also a qualitative restriction.
If you are “under the influence”, your BAC is too high.
The rule of thumb is “8 hours, bottle to throttle”. But that does NOT work if one does a round of shots 20 hours prior, gets below the quantitative amount, but is still “under the influence”.
Caveat: I’d imagine that after an accident, proving “under the influence” with a BAC under the limit might be tough.
“I thought commercial pilots were prohibited from drinking alcohol at all. Seems to me that’s not too much to ask.”
The rule at pretty much every U.S. Airline is at LEAST 12 hours “bottle-to-throttle”, as much as 18 hours at some majors.
The FAA rule is 8 hours, and can’t be above .04.