Drunk Pilots Fired

Continental Airlines has a program called:

PEER PILOT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
The mission of the Continental Airlines Peer Pilot Assistance Program (PPAP) is to provide Continental Pilots a group of trained peers to which any pilot may turn for confidential assistance with personal problems on a voluntary basis.
The Program's objective is to get the troubled pilot to proper medical evaluation and treatment before his or her health, life, and employment are threatened by unresolved personal problems. Such problems may be denied or unrecognized by the pilot, thus calling for sensitive but firm intervention. The major concern for the PPAP is to intervene prior to a pilot receiving a positive alcohol/drug test result. ...
Recovery Rates
The Human Intervention Motivation Study started in 1972 by a grant given to ALPA and the FAA by the National Institute of Alcoholism & Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA). The sole focus of the grant was to develop a system to return a pilot to flight status after he/she receives a diagnosis of chemical or alcohol dependency. The Peer Pilot Assistance Program is modeled after this program.
Twenty-seven years later, the HIMS program is one of the most successful programs for impaired professionals. Bar associations, State Medical authorities and other professional associations have designed programs based on the philosophy, principles and success of HIMS. The success rate of HIMS is 93% over 27 years. This rate is based on the percentage of relapses (7%) after 3 years of continued abstinence from alcohol and/or drugs.
No other profession has been able to achieve this high recovery rate.
The partnership of Management, the EAP and the IACP has made the PPAP a success. While return to flight status and a regular paycheck are important, the real purpose of this program is to recover the quality of life lost to the addiction, for the life of the pilot.

TNX

Thank you for the links, Tennessee Bob and _Jim.

For those seeking reassurance, one sentence stands out here:

No pilot in a CFR Part 121 (Air Carrier) fatal aviation accident was found to be positive for drugs or alcohol.

Those out for some moments of terror, look here:

Five years ago, Southwest’s Capt. Gary Higby had to save another Boeing 737 on approach to the Oakland, Calif., airport when his co-pilot, who was at the controls for the night-time descent in low visibility, let out a “curdling scream’’ and froze in his seat, Higby recalled. The co-pilot jammed on the right rudder and the jetliner, barely 900 feet above ground, responded with a 35-degree roll. Unable to push on the left rudder because his co-pilot was in a “catatonic rigid state,’’ Higby said he was able to retrieve a level flight only by increasing the thrust on the right engine. He landed the aircraft after flight attendants finally pried the co-pilot from the seat and dragged him to the galley.
Higby said that doctors at the hospital where the copilot was rushed after landing concluded that the second-in-command was an alcoholic who had experienced delirium tremens during the landing. Later, Higby said, the airline discovered that he had had four arrests for drunken driving and had admitted to being a binge drinker.

For those into forensics and 'heady' documents there is this:



Prevalence of Drugs and Alcohol in Fatal Civil
Aviation Accidents Between 1994 and 1998

Office of Aviation Medicine
Washington, D.C. 20591

Abstract
The use of drugs and alcohol in aviation is closely monitored by the FAA Office of Aviation Medicine's (OAM’s) Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) through the toxicological analysis of specimens from pilots who have died in aviation accidents.
This information on the use of drugs in aviation is helpful to the FAA in developing programs to reduce the usage of dangerous drugs and identify potentially incapacitating medical conditions that may cause an accident.
Data collected from this research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the FAA drug testing program.
The toxicology reports prepared by the CAMI Forensic Toxicology Research Section are used by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of aviation accidents. Specimens (blood, urine, liver, kidney, vitreous fluid, and other bodily specimens) were collected by pathologists near the accident and placed in evidence containers provided by CAMI. These samples were refrigerated and shipped by overnight air. Upon receipt, the specimens were inventoried and accessioned for the analysis of drugs, alcohol, carbon monoxide, and cyanide. All data collected by the laboratory were entered into a computer database for future analysis.
The database was searched using a Microsoft Access TM program developed by a local contractor. The database was sorted based on the class of drug, controlled dangerous substance schedules I and II, controlled dangerous substance schedules III-V, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol.
The Toxicology and Accident Research Laboratory received specimens from 1683 pilots for postmortem toxicology analysis between 1994 to 1998. Controlled dangerous substances, CDS, (schedules I and II) were found in 89 of the pilots analyzed. Controlled dangerous substances (schedules III - V) were found in 49 of the pilots tested.
Prescription drugs were found in 240 of the pilots analyzed. Over-the-counter drugs were found in 301 of the pilots analyzed.
Alcohol at or above the legal limit of 0.04% was found in 124 pilots. The number of positive drug cases has doubled over the past 5 years.
Over-the-counter medications are the most frequently found drugs in fatal aviation accidents and many of these drugs, or the medical conditions for which they are being used, could impair a pilot's ability to safely fly an aircraft.
The increased number of positive cases found in this research is most likely the result of improved methods of analysis, rather than an increase in the use of drugs.
The low incidence of CDS III-V drugs found in fatal aviation accidents may be a result of the difficulty in finding and identifying the new benzodiazepines commonly prescribed in this class.

The full report, containing a breakdown of the types of substances they found in pilot's blood, may found here in this Adobe ".pdf" format document.

That is the most assinine [sic] statement I've ever read on this board.

If the incidence of alcoholism in the public is 5% to 10% (some think it's 15% to 20%) please explain why airline pilots would have a lower percentage.

Do you think the annual phsyical exam is going to uncover the problem and weed them out? Go to a few AA meetings and ask the recovered alcoholics at the meeting about their experiences with doctors. Be prepared to hear lots of scornful laughter.

Perhaps you think active alcoholics are physically incapable of performing the job. How about baseball stars? (Mantle, Cobb, others). NBA basketball stars? (Pete Maravich, others). What about a world-class PBA golfer? (John Daly). All these people were active alcoholics at the peak of their careers. Daly, who's been in and out of rehab, may still be drinking.

Think the job is too intellectually demanding for an active alcoholic? The first three members of AA were an investment banker, a surgeon and a lawyer. Five American writers who won the Nobel were active alcoholics when they were honored.

I could go on and on mentioning CEO's, senior government officials (Ike's Secretary of Treasury, for example) but I'll close with a pilot who became an astronaut. Buzz Aldrin has revealed that he was an active alcoholic when he went to the moon with Armstrong and that he drank throughout his training. Those first astronauts were the most thoroughly examined (medically and psychologically) people in human history ... but the docs and psychologists couldn't diagnose one alcoholic in a three-man crew.

Sorry, but any society that has put an alcoholic on the moon (Aldrin took a small quantity of wine with him for a "sacramental" drink on the lunar surface) is utterly incapable of keeping them out of our airline cockpits.

The alcoholism doesn't disappear when the blood alcohol level goes to zero so statistics based on post-acccident examinations are irrelevant.

Active alcoholics tend to be over-achievers for many, many years. They also are very good at hiding their drinking. In short, you have probably shared the cockpit with more than one "invisible" alcoholic, but they're usually good at their chosen profession and most of them have little problem obeying the airlines' rules about drinking most of the time so you shouldn't worry ... too much.

Higby said that doctors at the hospital where the copilot was rushed after landing concluded that the second-in-command was an alcoholic who had experienced delirium tremens during the landing.

Good grief! Delirium tremens usually don't appear until the person is a daily inebrient living under a bridge.

please explain why airline pilots would have a lower percentage.

Two words: "Professional survival".

I believe the rate of incidence of alcoholism is a mere fraction of the general population.

Regarding Aldrin, a true alcoholic can't do without regular and periodic 'self medication' without suffering actual physical symptoms.

Do you actually think that mission control wouldn't have seen these signs given all the vitals they monitor during lengthy tests and thr missions?

My vote is for Reckless Endangerment; an indictment; and jail time.

Regarding Aldrin, a true alcoholic can't do without regular and periodic 'self medication' without suffering actual physical symptoms.

One of the symptoms of alcoholism: Going on the Wagon! They abstain from alcohol for weeks, even months. (A friend and now recovering alcoholic even managed to avoid drinking while performing his job --- as a beer salesman which put him in bars daily.)

What you call a "true" alcoholic is a late-stage alcoholic, a daily inebrient who indeed would suffer greatly without booze. But most alcoholics never reach that stage and experts estimate that they represent less than 5% of the alcoholic population. If they don't reach that stage alcoholics can perform all sorts of demanding jobs.

Do you actually think that mission control wouldn't have seen these signs given all the vitals they monitor during lengthy tests and thr missions?

What signs? There was no test for alcoholism at the time and, as far as I know, none now. If the alcoholic abstains what vital signs tell the monitors he's an alcoholic?

I hope that these guys get punished harder than you would for a standard DUI.

When I was in the navy, a guy sabotaged one of the main engines on a ship that a buddy of mine was on. That guy got sentenced to 25 years in Leavenworth. The charge that really got the guy hammered was "Improper Hazarding of a Vessel". I think that these two drunken pilots should face a similar charge and see some serious prison time. They could have killed thousands of people.

What signs?

Many signs.

I have seen the signs, such as these people get real 'edgy' (heart-rate, BP rise) and uncomfortable without their crutch - these signs AREN'T hard to spot and mankind has had a LOT of experience with alkies over the years.

There was no test for alcoholism at the time and, as far as I know, none now.

Oh brother ... this isn't rocket science and simply denying it as a form of argumentation won't cut it (now or in the future).

If one has a chance (as many of the MDs and other scientists did) to examine our human 'lab rats' as closely as the astronauts - there wouldn't be MANY SECRETS AT ALL theyu could keep to themselves ...

If the alcoholic abstains what vital signs tell the monitors he's an alcoholic?

I also notice that 'alkies' have trouble learning new tasks - and get flustered easily when situations out of the norm arise ... don't you think that the rigours of the tests they subjected these guys to wouldn't 'flush out' adverse reactions at some point?

All in all I think you're making stuff up -

- or repeating old wive's tales told at AA or Al-Anon meetings ...

People like myself who have managed to educate ourselves on the subject of alcoholism by reading (about 200 books on the subject) attending lectures, experiencing familial alcoholism, attending scores of AA and Alanon meetings never cease to be amazed by people who haven't done any of the above but who nonetheless pontificate on the subject.

Others on this forum, people I trust, are aware of my identity and of the book I wrote which has been used to train alcoholism counselors at more than one college and which has been translated into four foreign languages. If I thought you were trustworthy I'd post the amazon.com link, but since you've accused me of fabricating facts I have no interest in doing that or in responding to any of your future posts on this matter.

but since you've accused me of fabricating facts

I didn't accuse you of 'fabricating facts' - what I wrote *plainly* below was "All in all I think you're making stuff up". This indicates I think your observations and subsequent rationale for what you observed is seriously in error.

If you were fabricating evidence/facts - I would CERTAINLY have said so. Believe me.

I still contend that under the medical scrutiny that the astronauts were under - there is *no* way a full-blown alcoholic alcoholic-dependant individual could have A) hidden that fact B) existed for days without symptoms (even minor symptoms) outside of an environment where his 'drug' could be accessed for the 'self-medication' that alcoholics are famous for.

I, too, have witnessed my share of alcohol abuse - as well as done my fair share of reading about it too - from both on-line 'open-forum' sources to the usual books on the subject ...

Please - *no* high horses ...

I still contend that under the medical scrutiny that the astronauts were under - there is *no* way a full-blown alcoholic alcoholic-dependant individual could have A) hidden that fact B) existed for days without symptoms (even minor symptoms) outside of an environment where his 'drug' could be accessed for the 'self-medication' that alcoholics are famous for.

Right. Buzz Aldrin is a liar. (But don't tell him that to his face unless you're prepared to take a punch.)

And don't dare go to Google and enter Buzz Aldrin Alcoholic.

As for "full blown" alcoholics let me quote Ruth Fox, MD, founder of Society for Addiction Medicine: "Alcoholism is like pregnancy. Either you are or your aren't." There are as many "full blown" alcoholics as there are "full blown" pregnant women.